Tunnel Closure Stirs Anxiety in Chinatown

Some 31,000 intra-city drivers are adjusting their commute as San Francisco’s Broadway Tunnel prepares to close for fourteen months. Last weekend, the tunnel shut down for one day to ready its east- and west-running bores for shutdown. The closure is part of a seismic retrofit project at Chinatown Public Health Center, directly over the tunnel’s east portal. One bore will remain open for seven months at a time, squeezing traffic down to one lane in either direction.

The Broadway Tunnel is approximately 1,616 feet, linking North Beach and Chinatown with Polk Street and Van Ness Avenue. If you know about or remember the former Embarcadero Freeway, the Broadway Tunnel was intended to connect with it. The 1948 San Francisco Trafficways Plan would’ve carved up San Francisco with Los Angeles-style freeways. The tunnel opened to traffic in 1952, four lanes through the loose gravel heart of Russian Hill.  

Like the Stockton Tunnel between Union Square and Chinatown, the Broadway Tunnel shaves an appreciable chunk off your commute. Anyone who’s endured the Stockton Street slog knows the sense of relief when your bus hits that stretch. It’s understandable if drivers, residents, and business owners on either side may be cranky these next fourteen months. 

"I think it's okay, because they have to get it done and do what they have to do," Abby Huang told ABC7. Huang is a member of the Chinatown Merchants United Association and owns the House of Dim Sum. "I think what we need to do now is be patient when they're doing the construction." 

Say you’re one of the unlucky drivers faced with negotiating a new commute to work. Take your pick: a stop-and-go climb over Russian Hill, a snails-pace creep through the only open bore, or a jog around Bay Street. For certain, the drive between FiDi and neighborhoods west of the tunnel is about to get way longer. Your best bet is just avoiding the tunnel altogether. In any case, you’ll need to sacrifice more of your time and make room for delays. 

While Abby Huang greets the coming changes with optimism, Duk Hing Express owner Jimmy Chen is less confident. 

"I just think it's going to be bad for business in Chinatown, because it's really hard to get a place to park,” he said. Chen’s restaurant stands at the busy intersection of Stockton and Broadway, two blocks east of the tunnel. "I think people will just avoid it. If there's going to be a lot of traffic, there's no point."

Like many surrounding neighborhoods, Chinatown bases a significant portion of its economy on tourist revenue. San Francisco boasts the oldest and largest Chinatown in the United States, and few American cities have one so vibrant. Ensuring accessibility to Chinatown has been a priority for generations of residents. Chen’s anxiety is reasonable. It echoes those of neighborhood advocates who feared the same once CalTrans tore down the Embarcadero Freeway after the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. The San Francisco Chronicle confirmed that in 1990: “The October 17 earthquake — which crippled the Embarcadero Freeway, a major route to Chinatown — is widely blamed for the district’s economic woes.”

But while accessibility is a chief component to Chinatown’s success, it is not the only one. When Chinatown is open and accessible, the neighborhood still competes with Clement Street and its Oakland counterpart for business. Class too is a factor, and a touchy subject. “The underlying cause is partly demographic,” the Chronicle continued. “The more affluent Chinese Americans are moving out of congested San Francisco Chinatown to other areas of the city or the suburbs.” Even apart from a disaster, the historic district is still vulnerable to socio-economic factors, from outside as well as within. 

The Broadway Tunnel’s partial closure is unlikely to generate the same depression as seen after Loma Prieta. That said, Chinatown and neighboring districts will need a little extra love from the city in the months ahead.