Major renovations to 19th Avenue in San Francisco start Monday

SAN FRANCISCO - Crews in San Francisco will break ground Monday on a major renovation project along 19th Avenue in the city's Sunset District.

The project is expected to take more than 2 years to complete and is being led by San Francisco Public Works.

Crews will replace and renovate aging water mains and sewer infrastructure. They will upgrade the emergency firefighting water system.

The project also includes work to the street itself. This includes installing ADA-compliant curb ramps and widening the sidewalk at bus stops.

The entire stretch of 19th Avenue from Lincoln to Holloway will be paved.

The project will be broken up into 4 phases.

The first phase will impact the area between Lincoln Way and Noriega Street in the southbound direction.

"We always want to keep our infrastructure in good repair," said spokesperson Rachel Gordon. "And with the aging sewer and water systems we want to fix them up and repair them before they break down and have an emergency. So this is a way we can do that proactively.”

Gordon said the improvement will benefit pedestrians and improve MUNI efficiency in the long. But while work is going on, expect delays and impacts to parking. Find a detour if you can.

"What we are expecting is there are going to be delays. Any time you reduce traffic lanes there can be more traffic congestion so we’re strongly encouraging people to find alternative routes. We know 19th Avenue is a major corridor through San Francisco," said Gordon.