SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency announced on Thursday, November 12 that the companies new Central Subway project that will extend the T Third underground to Chinatown is being delayed until 2022.
The SFMTA indicated that COVID-19 has caused delays in the Central Subway’s construction though the project is near completion. Before COVID-19, the anticipated date for finishing construction of Central Subway was the end of December 2020 with the plan to have costumers riding the trains a year later.
The SFMTA is now projecting that the new date for the end of the trains construction will be spring 2021, with the plan to have customers riding trains by spring 2022.
Factors that have also played into SFMTA postponing the projects’ completion include the company having to move to remote work, mandatory quarantines after team members tested positive for COVID-19, delays in receiving construction materials and design changes made due to unforeseen conditions underground.
“We are working closely with our construction contractors to get the project completed as safely and prudently as possible,” said Phillip Pierce, SFMTA’s Public Affair Manager, in a public statement.
Most of the construction above ground has been completed with the exception of Washington Street in Chinatown still blocked off from public access. Streets along Union Square and Chinatown are open once again to the public.
