San Francisco's Twin Peaks Tunnel Project near completion

SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) - The Twin Peaks Tunnel Project in San Francisco in its final phase of completion.

If all goes as planned, the head of SFMTA says normal service will resume Saturday.

As of Thursday night, the project appears to be on budget and on time. 

At the West Portal station, crews are testing trains.

On 19th Avenue at Holloway by San Francisco State University, workers are aligning the new tracks with the old. Crews are also making sure the electrical wiring hanging overhead is working properly.

They describe it as trial and error. 

"It's unusual when you put it together that it's right on the first try. You usually have to keep doing it, adjust, do it again," said John Haley, SFMTA's director of transit. 

Construction on the project started on June 25, Work took place round-the-clock to make improvements that include replacing tracks and a drainage system along with seismic upgrades. 

It cost $40 million and was scheduled to take two months to complete.
　
"We understand that there're disruptions that come from it, but it's a necessary investment and it'll make our city stronger and better as a result," said Ed Resikin who heads up SFMTA. 
　
There have been problems. On August 10, a construction worker, 51- year- old Patrick Ricketts from the Sacramento area was hit by a steel beam in the tunnel and died. 

It was revealed that Shimmick, the company he worked for, had previous safety violations.

Some Muni passengers complained that the bus bridges that replaced the trains lengthened their commute.

Riders are anxious for normal underground service to resume.

"It's taking me more than an hour to get to campus now that the bus line has been in place so I'm so excited that the "M"is coming back," said Jamie Oppenheim who works at San Francisco State. 

One commuter gave Muni high marks during the disruptions of the past two months.

"The buses came frequently. I thought it worked really well,better than I expected," said Patrick Monahan who also works at San Francisco State. 
　
At Roti Indian Bistro on West Portal Avene, business was brisk on this Thursday night.

Back in June when the Tunnel Project first started, a KTVU crew spoke with the owner who was concerned that the construction would hurt business. 

"Your news coverage really helped us getting the customers in. Our regular customers made it a point to come over and over again, to make sure we are doing all right," said Pankaj Shah, the owner of Roti. 

SFMTA says passengers will notice a quicker and smoother ride.

"We wouldn't be able to completely avoid any impact to the system, but we did the best we could," said Reiskin. 
　
SFMTA officials say the plan is to have all the testing on the tracks and equipment completed Friday. 

The goal is to resume normal service early Saturday morning.