Don’t Get Caught: Highway 101 Through SF Is Closed (Yes, Again) This Weekend
As if avoiding Fleet Week traffic wasn’t bad enough this past weekend, there’ll be another major weekend complication on the roads through San Francisco this coming weekend.
Over a mile of 101 near Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital will be fully closed — again — to all southbound traffic starting the night of Friday, Oct. 16, and won’t reopen until early morning on Monday, Oct. 19.
These closures on what’s known as the “Hospital Curve” part of 101 will especially affect people driving from the East Bay or North Bay to the Peninsula and South Bay, and travelers trying to reach San Francisco International Airport by road.
But they’ll also impact people just wanting to travel through the city on those days — especially on Saturday, when the Golden State Valkyries will be playing in Game 1 of the WNBA finals at Chase Center.
This is the third weekend closure in Caltrans’ ongoing work on what the agency calls “the Fab 4”: 101’s Hospital Curve, I-280, the Central Freeway and 19th Avenue. Caltrans’ Bay Area public information officer Lori Shepherd said that drivers should know that these closures are going to cause “a major, major impact,” and that any travelers planning to drive in San Francisco during the closure should expect sizable delays getting through the city — not just around 101, but on surrounding streets and detours.
But if you really have to drive through San Francisco this weekend, what should you know about timing, detours and delays?
Keep reading for what we know about navigating the upcoming 101 closure without having your weekend completely hijacked by traffic.
Where and when will southbound 101 through San Francisco be closed?
All southbound lanes on 101 between Seventh and 17th streets will be closed to traffic — a 1.2-mile stretch of highway.
The closure starts at 11 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 16. All southbound lanes will reopen by 6 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 19.
Northbound 101 will remain open during the southbound closure, although one lane will be closed.
I really need to drive south through San Francisco during the closures. What detour should I take?
While these 101 southbound lanes are closed, Caltrans recommends that motorists use I-280 southbound instead. So if you’re using I-280 to get to or from Chase Center to watch the Valkyries play the Atlanta Dream on Saturday, be aware that these routes may have a lot more traffic due to the volume of drivers taking this detour.
If you’re already on 101 south through San Francisco:
Caltrans recommends that you travel south on either Van Ness Avenue or Guerrero Street to reach I-280 southbound. But if you miss your chance for those exits,
- Take the Fourth Street exit and turn right onto Fourth Street
- Turn right onto King Street
- Take the southbound I-280 on-ramp.
If you’re coming from the Bay Bridge on I-80 west:
Take the Fifth Street exit and then:
- Turn left onto Fifth Street
- Turn right onto Brannan Street
- Turn left onto Sixth Street
- Take the southbound I-280 on-ramp.
But if you miss Fifth Street:
- Take the Ninth Street Civic Center exit
- Continue on Harrison Street
- Turn left onto 10th Street
- Bear right onto Potrero Avenue
- Continue until you reach the southbound 101 on-ramp, after the closure.
See Caltrans’ recommended detours in action:
What other parts of the city could be impacted by the closures?
Shepherd said the greatest traffic impacts from these closures could be felt around Cesar Chavez and 17th streets, as well as around Potrero Avenue — and also on entrances to I-280.
Caltrans is urging travelers wherever possible to take public transportation to travel through San Francisco during the highway closure, instead of using the roads.
It “really remains the best option to bypass congestion and work zone delays — because there will be some major delays getting through the city,” warned Shepherd. Delays from the closures could also have a knock-on effect on other routes through the city.
Why can’t these 101 closures just take place overnight instead?
Shepherd attributed the length of the multiple closures — one of which took place over the Labor Day weekend— to the sheer scope of the “24-7” repaving work being undertaken on 101 at this time.
“It’s a major, massive project, if you can imagine, repaving the freeway,” she said, and Caltrans timed these closures “to do it with the least amount of impact on the public,” said Shepherd.
The concrete used in this kind of repaving work also needs the kind of dry conditions that fall in San Francisco brings. “There’s a lot of emphasis on getting work done — as much of it completed in the summer during the dry season as much as possible,” she said.
“It’s difficult, yes, for the traveling public to have to find ways around,” Shepherd said. “But in the end, it will produce long-term gains, because the road will be safer and smoother to drive [and] less prone to flooding.”
KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara contributed to this report.