Islais Creek Bridge Rehabilitation Project

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Project Description

The City and County of San Francisco, led by Public Works, is proposing to replace the existing Islais Creek Bridge along Third Street in San Francisco’s Bayview district.  The existing Islais Creek Bridge is structurally deteriorated and seismically deficient. The proposed replacement bridge will meet current structural and seismic standards and will be more resilient to projected future sea-level-rise impacts.

The bridge was originally built in 1949 and was designed to only carry vehicular and pedestrian traffic. In 2007, SFMTA retrofitted the bridge to carry two light rail tracks, with overhead electric wires and poles to provide power to light rail vehicles. The bridge currently carries four lanes of vehicle traffic, two Muni light rail tracks, and two sidewalks.  The drawbridge has not been used to accommodate large ships in Islais Creek for approximately 50 years.

This project would result in the replacement of the existing drawbridge with a fixed-span bridge, meaning large ships would no longer be able to access the Islais Creek channel west of the bridge. The new bridge would accommodate a center 26-foot-wide dedicated light-rail transit (light rail) track, two 11-foot travel lanes in each direction, a 12-foot-wide shared pedestrian/bicycle path on the eastern side of the bridge, and a 16-foot-wide shared pedestrian/bicycle path on the western side of the bridge. Construction is estimated to be approximately 24 months and would begin no sooner than Fall 2026. Throughout a majority of the construction period, there would be no access for vehicles, Muni service on the T-Third Street light rail line, or pedestrians to the bridge or Third Street between Marin Street to the north and Cargo Way to the south. Vehicles would be detoured around the construction area to other routes. T-Third Street passengers would use bus shuttles instead of light rail service south of Islais Creek Bridge. Riders on the 15 Bayview Hunters Point Express and 91 Third Street/19th Avenue OWL buses would be detoured around the project site.  Details about the bus substitution and detour routes are currently under development with the SFMTA.

On November 29, 2023, the San Francisco Planning Department published a draft environmental impact report (EIR) for the Islais Creek Bridge Project, and the document was circulated for a seven-week public review and comment period.  Written comments and comments during a public hearing were received and are currently being addressed in the development of the final EIR. Click here to see Notice of Availability of a Draft Environmental Impact Report and Notice of Public Hearing.

This website will be periodically updated to reflect updates about the project design, the environmental process, and to share more details about the detours and transit plans as the project gets closer to construction.

What is the purpose of an EIR?

The purpose of the EIR is to provide information about potential significant physical environmental effects of a proposed action, identify possible ways to minimize the significant effects, and describe and analyze possible alternatives to the proposed action. The EIR must be certified by the San Francisco Planning Commission prior to any final decision regarding whether to approve the project. A Draft EIR does not indicate a decision by the city to approve or to disapprove the project. The city must review and consider the information contained in the EIR prior to making a decision.

Available Documents

The Notice of Availability and the Draft EIR are available to download electronically at sfplanning.org/sfceqadocs. Hard copies of the Draft EIR are available to review at the San Francisco Permit Center on the second floor of 49 South Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco. Please note the public hearing date has been changed to January 11, 2024.

Draft EIR Comment Period

The San Francisco Planning Department welcomes your comments on the adequacy and accuracy of the Draft EIR. The Draft EIR comment period begins on November 30, 2023 and concluded at 5pm on January 22, 2024. Comments regarding your like or dislike of the project or whether you think officials should approve or disapprove the project will not be addressed in the environmental review document. Instead, we encourage you to provide these comments to the project sponsor, Thomas Roitman, Project Manager (628-271-2404, thomas.roitman@sfdpw.org).

You may provide comments on the Draft EIR concerning the proposed project’s environmental effects by:

• Contacting Elizabeth White via email (CPC.IslaisCreekBridgeProject@sfgov.org), phone (628) 652-7557, or by mail at 49 South Van Ness Avenue, Suite 1400, San Francisco, CA 94103; OR
• A public hearing on this Draft EIR was held by the Planning Commission on Thursday, January 11, 2024.