Repairing of 'severe potholes' on 19th Ave a welcome disruption for neighbors

SAN FRANCISCO - A busy thoroughfare through the city is partially closing through the daytime hours this week. 19th Avenue is getting some major road repairs. 

It’s causing traffic to slow a bit through the area near West Portal.

19th Avenue is known as one of the busiest streets running through the city, riddled with potholes. 

Caltrans is closing two lanes of northbound 19th Avenue from Sloat to Taraval on Wednesday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.

One lane will remain open to traffic and all lanes will reopen each day in time for the afternoon commute.

Caltrans says the road, which turns into Highway 1, and is owned by the state, and has severe potholes.

"A lot of the traffic noise is from cars going over bumpy surfaces," said neighbor Doug Roberts. 

"It hits you a lot more on a motorcycle than it would on a car," said a motorcyclist, Rebecca Laparde. 

It’s a loud inconvenience this week, according to Laparde, who uses the busy street to get to McCoppin Square to walk her dog. 

"We usually cross over here but we can’t really go over there, we have to go around and wait for lights to change, it’s not fun," said Laparde. 

However, most neighbors said the road repairs are long overdue.

"We have been waiting for years for this to happen!" said Roberts. 

"A couple weeks of discomfort will dramatically improve the pace of people coming through the area," another neighbor, Max Crisp, said. 

This all follows a two-year joint city and state project, completed last year to replace aging utility infrastructure and update traffic lights, as well as sidewalk and bus stop improvements for pedestrian safety.

"Once this has been paved, everything settles down, it’s going to be a boom for the neighborhood," Roberts said.

A spokesperson from Caltrans said this part of the project will finish on Thursday, with one more day tentatively scheduled for June 6th to complete striping. 

A broader repave of 19th Ave. will extend from Golden Gate Park to San Francisco State University, set to take place in spring 2025. her