San Francisco’s Chinatown has three construction projects happening, all less than a mile of each other, in the next couple of years. <\/p>\n
Demolition is already underway at Portsmouth Square. Crews will soon start upgrades to the Chinatown Public Health Center and Chinatown Branch Library. On Saturday, Portsmouth Square’s pedestrian bridge will begin coming down.<\/p>\n
NBC Bay Area got a look behind the construction fences at Portsmouth Square. The neighborhood’s so-called “living room” is now dirt and debris.<\/p>\n
“On June 9, we had an amazing groundbreaking ceremony with folks from the community who came out,” project manager Noah Levy said. “On June 10 of 2026, we immediately started on the first phase of construction, which is the demolition phase of the project.”<\/p>\n
Up next is the demolition of the pedestrian bridge that connects the square to the Hilton Hotel on Kearny street.<\/p>\n
“It’s a very slow and methodical process for the dismantling of the bridge,” Levy said. “It’s not a big TNT boom. We’re going to take this thing down piece by piece.”<\/p>\n
Rachel Gordon, a spokesperson for San Francisco Public Works, said the bridge will be taken down in three phases.<\/p>\n
“This is a 300-foot concrete and steel bridge…so the first phase is gonna be the bridge portion that’s over Kearny Street, that’s going to come down first,” she said. “It will come down in chunks, maybe the size of a dining room table, maybe the size of a small television set.”<\/p>\n
Once the bridge is removed, Levy said it will open up 20,000 additional square feet of useable space where a new community clubhouse will be built.<\/p>\n
Then, on the third weekend, a full closure of the Broadway tunnel will take place for upgrades to the Chinatown Public Health Center.<\/p>\n
“The city is investing more than $150 million in these capitol projects that are going to be game changers for the neighborhood,” Gordon said.<\/p>\n
San Francisco Chinatown street closures due to construction<\/p>\n
Kearny Street full closure, between Clay and Washington streets, over two weekends:<\/p>\n
Aug. 1 at 1 a.m. – Aug. 3 at 5 a.m.<\/p>\n
Aug. 8 at 1 a.m. – Aug. 10 at 5 a.m.<\/p>\n
Kearny Street partial closures:<\/p>\n
July 29 – July 31<\/p>\n
Aug. 3 – Aug. 7<\/p>\n
Aug. 10 – Aug. 15<\/p>\n
Broadway tunnel full closure:<\/p>\n
Broadway tunnel partial closures:<\/p>\n
Aug. 17, 2026 – October 2027 (approximately)<\/p>\n
One lane at a time will be available in each direction. This will begin immediately following the full closure and last approximately 14 months.<\/p>\n