A terrifying construction accident in San Mateo Thursday morning, as a trench collapsed and buried a worker in ten feet of dirt, though he has been rescued, hospitalized, and remains in critical condition.

A sewer line construction project at a private residence in San Mateo took a near-deadly turn Thursday morning, as KPIX reports that a construction worker was buried under ten feet of dirt when a trench collapsed on him on West 41st Avenue. The worker was eventually rescued after an extraction process that took a few complicated twists and turns, and the worker is now hospitalized and reportedly in critical condition.

KPIX has a brief overhead video from the scene, and notes the construction worker was partially buried for “nearly an hour” as first responders tried to extract him. The worker is reportedly in his 30s, though his name has not been released.

The trench’s collapse occurred at about 9:30 am Thursday morning, according to the San Mateo Consolidated Fire Department.

The rescue was complicated by weather conditions. The fire department attempted to send the worker to the hospital via an airlift, but had to abandon that plan due to foggy conditions. He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance instead. The trench also had to be stabilized before the rescue could occur, adding to the length of time the worker was buried.

West 41st Avenue was closed to traffic between Hacienda Street and Alameda de las Pulgas while the rescue took place, but that street has since reopened.

The incident recalls a trench collapse last September in San Francisco, where 25-year-old contractor Javier Romero of Alameda County was killed when a similar trench collapse buried him under eight feet of dirt.

This is a developing story and may be updated.

Related: Utility Worker Dies After Collapse of Trench at Oak and Divisadero [SFist]

Image: @SFFDPO via Twitter

State Senator Scott Wiener’s bill intended to eliminate reviews and challenges to housing proposals has now done just that, as the state just forced San Francisco to streamline approvals and massively speed up housing production.

Last year, San Francisco City Hall labored to pass a plan to build 82,000 new housing units by 2031, a plan we approved mostly because the state was forcing us to. But even though we passed that plan, we’ve pretty much failed to follow through. Housing approvals remain at a trickle, as SF continues to have the longest approval process in all of California for new construction projects.

So, state Senator Scott Wiener jumped in with legislation called SB 423 that streamlined housing approvals and eliminated appeals against housing projects for cities not meeting their housing goals. Those rules will kick in for California cities in 2026. But Wiener’s bill singled out San Francisco, and for us, the rule is already in effect.

Welp, San Francisco missed its housing production goal for 2023, so now the Chronicle reports SF will be forced to streamline housing proposals and eliminate most appeals and reviews. Most proposed housing projects will no longer be subject to SF Planning Commission review, and therefore, cannot be appealed or rejected by the Board of Supervisors.

The move is expected to slash the average construction project approval time from more than two years to just six months.

Wiener is of course spiking the football. “San Francisco has had the longest permitting timeline for housing in the state and now because of SB423 San Francisco will have one of the shortest permitting timelines,” he said in a statement to the Chronicle. “And that is a game-changer.”

The sentiment is not universal.

“Scott Wiener is one step closer to his goal of destroying San Francisco,” founder of the anti-upzoning group Neighborhoods United SF Lori Brooke told the Chronicle. “[The bill] unfairly penalizes San Francisco for something beyond its control,” Brooke added. “San Francisco does not build housing, developers do.”

San Francisco is now the first city in California forced into these automatic approvals (known as “ministerial approvals”) of complying projects. Of course, that’s just because the law singled us out to start reviews here earlier, other cities don’t have that mandate until 2026.

SF approved 3039 new housing units in 2023 and 831 this far in 2024, far short of the average needed to add 82,000 new units in eight years.

Developers are applauding the change. “Instead of not knowing what is going to happen for two to five years, once you submit a whole project it should be approved in two to six months,” said developer Chis Foley, who’s behind the project to bring a 23-story residential tower to what is currently the FedEx spot at Duboce and Market streets.

The new rules do not apply to all proposed SF housing projects. Large projects under “development agreements,” like that giant Stonestown remodel, will still be subject to reviews. But the Chronicle estimates that 23% of SF housing meets this criteria, so the majority of projects would get the automatic approvals.

That said, we’re still seeing high construction costs and interest rates slow down or halt many SF housing construction projects. Scott Wiener's law can’t do anything about that.

Consider that the developer Foley of that Duboce and Market tower told the Chronicle that his tower there would “go vertical as soon as the capital markets come back.” In other words, it’s still delayed, just for reasons other than City Hall red tape.

Related: State Auditors Step Into Housing Element Mandate Mess, Question Whether Regulators are Doing Enough to Help Cities [SFist]

Image: Joe Kukura, SFist

The same concept from “the mess on Van Ness” is being applied to 16th Street, and is expected to take more than a year to complete, but in this case at least Phase 1 of the project was pretty much completed on time.

The red paint is barely dry on the Van Ness BRT construction project that tore up the street for six ever-loving years, snarled traffic, and made life hell for businesses on the corridor. And we’re about to do this again? We are, this time on 16th Street, as the Examiner reports that construction begins Monday, May 9 on Phase 2 of the 16th Street Improvement Project.

The project is fairly similar to what they did on Van Ness: dedicated red bus lanes, new medians in the street, nicer bus shelters. But the phrase “similar to what they did on Van Ness” is obviously terrifying for 16th Street business owners.

“The main concern is deliveries,” Art Herzallah, owner of both Freekeh and the Pork Store on 16th Street told the Examiner. “Uber drivers aren’t going to want to come to pick up food, and Costco drivers aren’t going to want to come drop off.”  

So what’s the timeline, and how likely is it that completion will go well past its deadlines? As seen above in power blue (we are on Phase 2 now), the start of construction was supposed to be last month. That start is delayed by a month, but that’s not a huge deal, right? What is huge is that 16th Street will remain under construction until “Summer 2023,” more than a year from now, and it may be ominous that they don’t even take a stab at approximating which month of “Summer 2023” they expect to finish tearing up 16th Street and putting it back together.

As seen above (and there is an inreactive map here), you can expect to find things torn up all along 16th Street, between Church Street and Third Street, plus a bit of Third Street itself, and a block of Gene Friend Way. It will probably be phased, so some neighborhoods and businesses will feel the pain at likely different times.

Also, this project doesn't involve moving lampposts and rerouting century-old plumbing and electrical piping, as the SFMTA found out late they needed to do on Van Ness.

One on hand, you can say that unlike Van Ness, this project has already delivered on-time results. There was a Phase 1 from Potrero Avenue to Third Street, which was completed on schedule in August 2020. On the other hand, SFMTA said in their completion announcement on Phase 1 that “The second phase of the project from Church to Potrero will be delivered through a separate construction project and is anticipated to begin work in early 2021.”

So wait, they are not starting just one month behind schedule, they’re starting more than a year behind schedule! That seems a red flag for anyone who lives, works, or does business on 16th Street, that the installation of red bus lanes will have you seeing red for quite some time.

Related: No Fooling! The Van Ness Rapid Transit Project Will Be Completed April 1 [SFist]

Image: SFMTA

It’s real name is the 19th Avenue Combined City Project, but Sunset District residents and motorists will probably have other words for this water- and sewer-line overhaul slated to last until 2023.

Should you be a person who sometimes finds themselves driving themselves up and down 19th Avenue in the Sunset District, it is time to get to know your local side streets. The jackhammers, trucks, and terrific traffic delays will be descending on 19th Avenue for the next 27 months, according to the Examiner, as something the DPW is calling the 19th Avenue Combined City Project will reduce stretches of 19th Avenue from three-lane traffic to two.

19th Avenue will still remain open throughout the long affair, but for the next two months, you’ll probably want to avoid the six blocks of 19th Avenue between Golden Gate Park and Noriega Street. That’s just the first of many affected areas in the “extensive” overhaul of street and underground infrastructure, which the Examiner says includes “replacement of water and sewer mains, street base repairs, installation of new ADA-compliant curb ramps, construction of bulbs to shorten the walking distance required to cross the street, concrete bus pads, traffic signal improvements and sidewalk widening at bus stops.”

Crews actually started this week (though they have today off), but things get serious on Monday when they begin saw-cutting roadway on the southbound lanes on the block between Lincoln Way and Irving Street, expected to last until mid-November. The block between Judah and Kirkham Streets is up next (expected to be finished in early January), then Kirkham to Lawton Street for much of the rest of January. The project will keep removing a lane from a particular block for, well, years, hence the projected traffic nightmares.

Hoodline adds this is also part of Muni’s 28 19th Avenue Rapid Project that includes some sidewalk widening and bus stop consolidation that hopes to (eventually) make the 28-line bus experience smoother. They’ve already started changing locations on stops, and you can expect to see much more of that in the future.

19th Avenue is of course a part of California’s famed State Route 1, which means Caltrans has their hands in on this as well. They'll be repaving 19th Ave. all the way from the park to Holloway Avenue,  a stretch of a couple miles.

Related: Four Years Into Van Ness Bus Lane Project, Red Concrete Gets Poured for Lanes [SFist]

Image: Google Street View

Man climbing construction crane in #SanFrancisco prompts police response https://t.co/mvbOPCKNtf pic.twitter.com/QaUsoyX5Qf

— Julianne Herrera (@JulestheFirst26) March 19, 2017

A man who climbed a construction crane in San Francisco's Civic Center area was rushed to the hospital for a medical evaluation Sunday, after police said they feared he might be seeking to end his own life.

ABC 7 reports that police were summoned to the 100 block of Hayes Street, which is between Polk Street and Van Ness Avenue, at 8:40 a.m. Friday on reports that a man was climbing a crane at an area construction site.

The San Francisco Police Department, including officers with their Crisis and Hostage team, responded to the scene, according to KRON 4.

Once they managed to get the man off the structure, SFPD spokesperson Officer Robert Rueca tells ABC 7, the climber "was detained but not arrested" as he "did not have any weapons and did not pose a threat to police."

Police tell KRON 4 that they're not sure how long the man had been standing on his perilous perch, or why he'd climbed up there in the first place. However, "police believe he had intentions of hurting himself."

According to the SFPD, the man was transported to San Francisco General Hospital for an assessment of his well being. As of Monday morning, additional details on the case were not yet available.

If someone you know exhibits warning signs of suicide: do not leave the person alone; remove any firearms, alcohol, drugs or sharp objects that could be used in a suicide attempt; and call the U.S. National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 800-273-TALK (8255) or take the person to an emergency room or seek help from a medical or mental health professional.

Related: Guy Free-Climbs SFMOMA Facade

A new set of renderings by SF-based firm Steelblue visualize the result of a downtown building boom the likes of which we shouldn't expect to see again soon. Consider this a sneak peek at the San Francisco skyline of tomorrow, punctuated by Salesforce Tower, which these days can be seen with two antenna-like cranes still busy at work on it.

Socketsite observes that the buildings pictured in Steelblue's flash-forward rendering max out every single parcel zoned for building any higher, although some commenters disagree, pointing to exceptions like a parcel at Mission and Beale Streets that's zoned higher than built. Besides that, the added height allowances that were granted to the Transbay District are all set to be used up, and pictured as such in the renderings including Salesforce Tower, 181 Fremont, Oceanwide Center, and the recently revealed 550 Howard.

Observe, as you soon may from Dolores park, although behind a pair of sunglasses, the rolling, Planning Commission-ordained skyline:

Steelblue via Socketsite

Finally, those with a keen eye will be curious to compare these recent renderings with a 2013 video fly-over, also from Steelblue, when a few of these towers had barely hit the drawing boards:

Related: Here's The View From The Embarcadero Once Six Proposed New Towers Go Up Near Howard

Observe: The wild basket crane in its natural habitat. Looks like it tends to travel in packs with its ally, the lowly cement mixer.

Yep, San Francisco is in the midst of a building boom the likes of which may ne'er been seen again, so in case you'd forgotten, here's a visual reminder from 4th and Folsom.

As you were.

Related: Photo Du Jour: A Buddha, A Rabbi, A Black Lives Matter Supporter, And Frida Kahlo's Ghost On A Cable Car

The Mayor's Office has quickly responded to reports last week that one of the signature aspects of the new Transbay Transit Center — the multi-block, rooftop park and promenade — might have to be scrapped or at the very least delayed until after the complex opens. Though Supervisors Scott Wiener and Jane Kim have their concerns about the funding, the mayor is "committed to making it happen" and to having the park done in time for the Transit Center's opening in late 2017, as the Chron reports.

The possible funding sources for the $37 million rooftop park include corporate sponsors — meaning Salesforce Tower could stand beside the Airbnb Park? — or tax assessments from neighboring property owners in a "Mello Roos Community Facilities District."

Wiener, however, points out that this Mello Roos district had already been planned and money from it is supposed to go to funding the downtown extension of CalTrain, or DTX, which comes as a second phase of the Transbay project. In that phase, following the opening of the new Transit Center, CalTrain's tracks would be extended via a tunnel underneath 2nd Street, bringing them all the way to the Transit Center from 4th and King. The tunnel would also ultimately be used if and when the high-speed rail gets built. The DTX has yet to be funded, and there has already been talk of shifting $200 million of its Mello Roos funding to cover huge cost overruns at the Transit Center.

Both Wiener and Kim sound like they will be pushing the Mayor's Office and the Transbay Joint Powers Authority to seek other (corporate) funding sources, rather than delay the DTX.

But considering everyone has swooned over this park — which some of have compared to the High Line in New York for its potential beauty and civic impact and was arguably the biggest selling point in Pelli Clarke Pelli's original design — it's clear that no one wants to lose it. Also, if this Transit Center opens without it, it will just be a glorified bus station. A pretty one covered in undulated aluminum panels, but a bus station nonetheless.

[Chron]
[SF Business Times]
[Transbay Transit Center]

All previous Transbay Transit Center coverage on SFist.

The two big tunnel-boring machines, which were nicknamed Mom Chung and Big Alma after two female figures in S.F. history, just completed excavating twin, 8,300-foot long tunnels beneath downtown San Francisco for the Central Subway system. They both started in 2013, and for various reasons we may never understand, one completed the underground journey in ten months, and the other did it in about seven. Big Alma made better time, as the Chron reports.

Both massive machines, which are each longer than a football field (95 meters) and weigh 750 tons, began digging down on Fourth Street beneath the freeway overpass, with Mom Chung starting in July 2013, and Big Alma starting in November. Both made it through this month, with Big Alma finishing up and arriving in Chinatown on June 11. The tunnels they dug range in depth from 40 feet to 120 feet below ground. And this very detailed video will explain to you how they both dug and built the tunnel's concrete cylinders at the same time.

Frighteningly, both machines passed just seven feet below the BART system without requiring any disruption in transit — and, thankfully, without causing some horrible surprise collapse. Below, a rendering of how the subway systems will overlap below ground.

The machines may not have caused any disruption, or noticeable vibration, for humans above ground, apart from the ongoing construction that's closed parts of Fourth and Stockton Streets, however the vibrations definitely upset an army of ground-dwelling rats, who all scattered and made far more frequent appearances above-ground in SoMa and North Beach over the last few months. This ratpocalypse may not end anytime soon, however, as construction on the system in general is expected to continue into 2019, and the little vermin will continue to run scared seeking better and safer places to nest and eat our trash.

Anyway, the tunnel-boring machines will now have to be slowly disassembled, piece by piece, and lifted out of their holes over in Chinatown by the old Pagoda Palace Theater, which is where the Central Subway terminus will be.

And as the Chron reminds us:

Mom Chung is named for Dr. Margaret Chung (1889-1959), the nation's first female Chinese American physician, who practiced in Chinatown. Big Alma was the nickname of Alma de Bretteville Spreckels (1881-1968), a wealthy San Francisco socialite who was also the model for the woman atop the Dewey Monument in Union Square.

The entire project is estimated to be costing $1.578 billion, and is so far on schedule and on budget. You can look forward, in five years, to a new Muni Metro line that looks like this and takes you from CalTrain to Chinatown in underground comfort. In the meantime, you'll still need the Dirty 30 to get up Stockton, and there will be lots of rats. Everywhere.

Here's the most recent construction update video made by the SFMTA, from March.

[Chron]
[SFMTA]

A series of nine, likely related acts of arson have occurred in less than three weeks, most in SoMa around several highrise construction projects, seemingly the work of a firebug who has not yet been identified. As KTVU and others report, the serial arsonist has struck several dumpsters, causing minimal damage, however the most recent arsons at construction sites appear to indicate that s/he is getting bolder.

The most recent arsons were in dumpsters outside buildings at First and Folsom and First and Tehama on Tuesday night, with a third occurring last night on Hoff Street between 16th and 17th Street in the Mission. Previously, the same arsonist is suspected of starting fires at a construction site at Folsom and Beale, the site of the under-construction, 655-unit Lumina condo project. Four of the nine suspected arsons have occurred at this site. The implication is that the arsonist is in some way targeting this area of rapid new development.

SFPD have some surveillance tapes they've been reviewing but have not released any sort of description of the suspect yet.

So be on the lookout for this firebug, and as always, you can call the SFPD's anonymous tip line at 415-575-4444, or text a tip to TIP411 with “SFPD” in the message.

[ABC 7]
[KTVU]
[CBS 5]

The empty Cathedral Hill Hotel at Geary and Van Ness has finally starting crumbling to the ground this week. Built as the Jack Tar Hotel in 1960, its final descent into entropy is aided by demolition crews with excavators that will level it before building it back up as the new California Pacific Medical Center.

When it opened, the modernist lump was hailed as "the world's most modern hotel," with amenities that included air conditioning, a swimming pool, a wedding chapel and a rooftop ice skating rink. Although some thought it was the bee's knees, as the Chronicle's resident old person Carl Nolte remembers today, the city's contrarian set referred to it as, "the box Disneyland came in," "the Wurlitzer Hilton," and, "Texas' idea of what Los Angeles looks like." In 1983, after being rebranded as the Cathedral Hill hotel just a year before, a fire broke out killing two, injuring 37 and causing what then-Mayor Dianne Feinstein called, "total devastation."

More recently, however, it had simply been called a waste of space. It was rebuilt after the fire and operated for another 25 years until it closed in 2009. San Francisco was reminded of the vacant building's existence when it hosted several homeless activists, a brass band and a "guitar bard" during 2011's Occupy SF activity. At the time, the protestors claimed much of the hotel was still furnished and habitable.

The demolition effort is expected to wrap up early next summer. At which point, construction on the new 226-foot tall, 274-bed hospital can begin.

[Chron]
[Curbed]

Major butt lift for the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Here's a jarring view of the museum's backside taken today from inside the construction site.If you recall, SFMOMA closed in June and have since finished with demolition. They will, hopefully, reopen in early 2016 with a jazzy new look.

DNA Lounge owner Jamie Zawinski noticed something a little strange about the Central Subway construction going down at 4th and Harrison. Our knowledge of best practices for subway-building isn't great, so we'll let him take it away:

So first they dug these narrow, deep holes and dropped girders in.

Then they dug thin trenches between them and poured walls.

Then they excavated out the dirt between those walls! What?

This city is under constant construction, so I've seen a lot of basements and foundations being dug, and I've never seen it done in that order before. They always dig a hole, shore up the sides as they dig, and then pour the walls. This seems like way more effort.

So next, they dropped girders on top of the hole, at street level, presumably to hold up the street that's going back on top -- except they only left like 4' underneath the girders, so what's going under there? Why did they do this at all! I thought the point of digging this hole was to build the head-end for the drilling machine, meaning the receiver for a bunch of conveyor belts trailing behind a chewing disc that is around 20' across.

What the fuck are they doing?

According to the Central Subway's blog, this week's project involves building beams across the below-ground walls, but that only serves to back up Zawinski's point-- we're not sure how those beams facilitate getting a 20-foot-wide drilling machine down there. Any construction aficionados want to clarify things for us?

[jwz.org]

Oh geez. Following on the zippy heels of this Porsche that crashed into a Marina cement construction site in February, this unfortunate family wagon seems to have crashed into a cement construction site along Stanyan near UCSF on Tuesday. Open top sightseeing has never been this much fun...or dangerous!

A closer look:

No, CLOSER!

Photo by Gerard Livernois.

There we go.