Broadway Tunnel (San Francisco)

The Broadway Tunnel (officially the Robert C. Levy Tunnel) is a roadway tunnel in San Francisco, California. The tunnel opened in 1952, and serves as a high-capacity conduit for traffic between Chinatown and North Beach to the east and Russian Hill and Van Ness Avenue to the west. In a proposal of the city's 1948 Transportation Plan, the tunnel was to serve as a link between the Embarcadero Freeway and the Central Freeway.

Broadway Tunnel
Western portal, from inside the north tunnel, facing west
Overview
LocationSan Francisco, California
Coordinates37.796812°N 122.414893°W / 37.796812; -122.414893
RouteBroadway
Operation
Work begunMay 1, 1950
OpenedDecember 21, 1952 (1952-12-21)
OwnerCity of San Francisco
OperatorCity of San Francisco
TrafficAutomotive and pedestrian
Technical
Length1,616 ft (493 m)
No. of lanes4
Operating speed40 mph (64 km/h)
Tunnel clearance13.5 ft (4.1 m)
For the tunnel in Alameda County formerly named the Broadway Tunnel, see Caldecott Tunnel.

History
Western portal, from the Hyde Street overpass
Eastern portal

Early plans

Abner Doble (grandfather of the namesake who would go on to build steam-powered cars) and his associates in the Folsom St. and Fort Point Railroad and Tunnel Co. were granted "the right to construct a tunnel through Russian Hill, on the line of Broadway, from Mason to Hyde or Larkin" by the California State Assembly on April 22, 1863.[1]:414[2][3]

Fifty years later, Bion J. Arnold submitted a report to the City of San Francisco in March 1913, calling for a tunnel on Broadway to supplement the Stockton Street Tunnel, which was already under construction.[1] The general route of a tunnel for Broadway was described in April 1913, extending from Mason to Larkin.[4] A landowner protested against the proposed tunnel, calling it "absolutely as unnecessary as a bridge to the moon".[5] Also in 1913, a railway tunnel was proposed for Broadway as part of an extension for the Municipal Railway to carry passengers to and from the Panama-Pacific Exposition.[6] Arnold's proposal called for a combined rail and road tunnel with a single arch for Broadway through Russian Hill, 2,338 feet (713 m) long and 60 feet (18 m) wide, carrying two tracks each 11 feet (3.4 m) wide; three lanes of traffic 24 feet (7.3 m) wide in total; and two sidewalks each 7 feet (2.1 m) wide..[1]:220;222–224

Plans were elaborated in brief by City Engineer M.M. O'Shaughnessy as one of ten potential tunnel projects in San Francisco at the October 1917 meeting for the San Francisco Association of the members of the American Society of Civil Engineers. O'Shaughnessy proposed a 2,300-foot-long (700 m) bore, but the article reporting the meeting described it as merely "investigated and not likely to be soon built".[7]

Robert C Levy (Broadway) Tunnel in San Francisco
1
Western portal
2
Eastern portal

Construction

In 1948, voters in the City of San Francisco passed a $5 million bond measure (equivalent to $43.3 million in 2019[8]) to fund the construction of the Broadway Tunnel.[9] Site preparations, including the move of an apartment building from 1453 Mason to Vallejo Street,[10] were underway by October 1949, and the construction contract was anticipated to be bid in January 1950.[11] In February, Morrison-Knudsen was awarded the contract after submitting the low bid of $5,243,355 (equivalent to $45 million in 2019[8])[12] and construction began in May 1950.[13] The final cost was some $7.3 million (equivalent to $57.5 million in 2019[8]).[14]

Completion was originally projected for May 1952, but unanticipated loose rock meant that shoring was required.[15] The tunnel opened to traffic on December 21, 1952.[14] Mayor Elmer Robinson cut a ceremonial ribbon to mark the occasion.[13]

Dedication and later years
Dedication plaque

The Broadway Tunnel was named in honor of Robert C. Levy (1921–1985) in January 1986. Levy was the city engineer and superintendent of building inspection for the City and County of San Francisco. A plaque outside the tunnel reads, "He devoted his life to high standards of professionalism in engineering and to the City which he loved."

Design

The east portal is just east of the Mason Street overpass. The west portal is just east of the Hyde Street overpass. Combined with these two overpasses, the tunnel provides for uninterrupted traffic flow along Broadway for a stretch of six blocks, between Powell on the east and Larkin on the west. There are two bores, each carrying two lanes of one-way traffic. The northern tunnel carries westbound traffic, and the southern tunnel carries eastbound traffic. Each tunnel is 1,616 feet (493 m) long.[14]

Eastbound tunnel, facing east. The large overhang is above.

The vertical clearance throughout much of the tunnel is nearly 20 feet (6.1 m), but there is an overhanging concrete slab at the eastern end, which reduces vertical clearance to 13 feet 6 inches (4.11 m).[16]

There are narrow sidewalks on the outboard side of each tunnel (e.g., the north side of the westbound tunnel). Bicyclists tend to use the sidewalk, but signal lights triggered by an inductive loop were installed in 2011 to alert motorists to the presence of bicycles in the tunnel.[17]

Westbound tunnel, facing west.
The Chinatown Public Health Center on top of the tunnel's eastern end (seen from the West across Mason Street)

Public art and architecture

A stylized dragon relief sculpture by Patti Bowler, rendered in bronze, has been mounted above the eastern portal of the tunnel since 1969.[18][19] The building atop the eastern portal is the Chinatown Public Health Center (Chinese: 華埠公共衛生局), a public health clinic operated by the San Francisco Department of Public Health.[20] It was built in the 1970s and remodeled in 2010.[21]

Reverse graffiti by Moose in 2008

In 2008, the artist Moose, sponsored by a company, executed a 140-foot-long (43 m) mural by cleaning dirt from the side of the approach to the western portal of the tunnel using pressure washing and cardboard stencils, a technique known as reverse graffiti.[22]

The Broadway Tunnel has been used as a filming location for several motion pictures, including:[23]

References
  1. Arnold, Bion J. (March 1913). "10. Tunnels into Harbor View". Report on the Improvement and Development of the Transportation Facilities of San Francisco (Report). Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  2. "Appendix: Railroad Franchises". San Francisco Municipal Reports for the Fiscal Year 1879-80 Ending June 30, 1880 (Report). San Francisco Board of Supervisors. p. 914. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  3. California State Assembly. "An Act to provide for the construction of a Street Railroad and Tunnel through Russian Hill, in the City and County of San Francisco". Fourteenth Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 293 p. 392. The right is hereby given to Abner Doble, I.T. Pennel, Joseph M. Wood, I.W. Cudworth, to them and their associates and assigns, to construct a tunnel in the City and County of San Francisco, through Russian Hill, on the line of Broadway street, from Mason street to Hyde or Larkin street, with the exclusive use of said tunnel, and the right to charge tolls upon animals and vehicles which may pass through the same. Said tunnel shall not be less than twenty feet in width, by sixteen feet in height, in the centre chord thereof; the entrances, shafts, slopes, and open cuts, shall be protected with suitable railings, walls, etc., to prevent accidents; [...]
  4. "Tunnel Committee Makes Progress Report". Municipal Record. Vol. 6 no. 17. San Francisco Board of Supervisors. April 24, 1913. p. 78. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  5. "Protests Against Proposed Broadway Tunnel". Municipal Record. Vol. 6 no. 10. San Francisco Board of Supervisors. March 6, 1913. p. 130. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  6. O'Shaughnessy, M. M. (April 5, 1913). Report on Extension of Municipal Railways to Provide Transportation for the Panama-Pacific Exposition (Report). San Francisco Board of Supervisors. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  7. "City Engineer Describes City Tunnels". Municipal Record. Vol. 10 no. 50. San Francisco Board of Supervisors. December 13, 1917. pp. 409–410. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  8. Thomas, Ryland; Williamson, Samuel H. (2020). "What Was the U.S. GDP Then?". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved September 22, 2020. United States Gross Domestic Product deflator figures follow the Measuring Worth series.
  9. Wallace, Kevin (March 27, 1949). "The City's Tunnels: When S.F. Can't Go Over, It Goes Under Its Hills". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved September 1, 2010.
  10. Donovan, Diane C.; Montgomery, Steve (2015). San Francisco Relocated. Arcadia Publishing. p. 78. ISBN 978-1-4671-3371-5. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  11. "Broadway Tunnel Brings Sausalito Closer to S.F." Sausalito News. October 27, 1949. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  12. "Low Bidder Named for Bay City Tunnel Job". San Bernardino Sun. Associated Press. February 3, 1950. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  13. "Broadway Tunnel Opened To Traffic". Santa Cruz Sentinel. AP. December 22, 1952. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  14. "Broadway Tunnel Opens Sunday; Will Cut Travel Time from Sausalito to S.F." Sausalito News. December 18, 1952. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  15. "S.F. Tunnel Job Faces New Delay". Sausalito News. April 10, 1952. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  16. Egelko, Bob (August 19, 2006). "San Francisco: Tunnel death suit rejected". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  17. Bialick, Aaron (June 3, 2011). "SFMTA Installs Bike and Ped Lights on the Broadway Tunnel and Tenderloin". Streetsblog SF. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  18. Cindy (March 28, 2012). "Chinatown – Broadway Tunnel". Art and Architecture SF. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  19. "Dragon Relief, (sculpture)". Smithsonian American Art Museum. 1969. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  20. "Chinatown Public Health Center". San Francisco Health Network. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  21. "Chinatown Health Center". San Francisco Department of Public Works. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  22. Colom, Francisco. "Reverse Graffiti Project in San Francisco". More Than Green. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  23. "Film Locations in San Francisco" (PDF). City of San Francisco. April 17, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  24. Wethern, George; Colnett, Vincent (1978). A Wayward Angel: The Full Story of the Hells Angels. Richard Marek Publishers. ISBN 1-59228-385-3. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  25. "Broadway Tunnel to close for film car chase Sunday". San Francisco Examiner. October 14, 2006. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  26. "What Dreams May Come". Film in America. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
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