UCSF Prepares for Opening Fourth Street to Traffic at Mission Bay
This Friday (March 19), Fourth Street will be open to traffic through the UCSF Mission Bay campus, according to UCSF Campus Planning.
The City and County of San Francisco plans to open Fourth Street through the UCSF Mission Bay campus to traffic to the north, connecting the campus with the remainder of the sprawling Mission Bay development area.
Fourth Street has long been planned as a public city street necessary to accommodate development within the entire 303-acre Mission Bay area, where UCSF’s campus is located in the center of action amid new housing, parks, biotechnology and other businesses. Fourth Street is a key feature of the overall transit circulation system that was included in the Mission Bay Redevelopment Plan that was adopted by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 1998.
In preparation for the opening of the street, the City has installed traffic signals at the intersections of Fourth and Sixteenth streets, and Fourth Street and Mission Bay Boulevard (the northern boundary of the campus). See map for details. Here’s a [PDF version]
To further enhance the safety of pedestrians crossing Fourth Street within the Mission Bay campus, UCSF has worked with the City to install prominent yellow “Yield to Pedestrians” signs on raised medians on Fourth Street at Campus Way (near Byers Hall) and on Nelson Rising Lane (north of Rock Hall).
In addition, in the coming months, UCSF will install a new traffic signal at Fourth Street at Gene Friend Way at the campus Plaza to provide a safe crossing for pedestrians, including those arriving to the campus via the Third Street light rail stop at the opposite end of the Plaza. The existing stop sign at that location will remain until the new traffic signal is installed.
Because Fourth Street is a city street that UCSF does not control, these improvements have been negotiated with the City and have been designed by the City’s Department of Parking and Traffic, campus planners say.
More on Mission Bay
Redevelopment at San Francisco’s Mission Bay began a decade ago, transforming a largely abandoned industrial and railyard area into a new neighborhood that will continue to grow over the next 20 to 30 years. At full build out, the new mixed-use area is expected to create more than 30,000 new permanent jobs, in addition to hundreds of ongoing construction jobs. Total development cost for Mission Bay is expected to exceed $4 billion, according to the City and County Redevelopment Agency’s website.
As of September 2009, 3,126 housing units, including 674 affordable units, have been constructed in Mission Bay and an additional 319 units are under construction. More than 1.5 million of commercial office and biotechnology lab space has been built, with another 187,000 square feet under construction, according to the agency.
UCSF broke ground for its Mission Bay campus in 1999. Today, the 57-acre campus includes several research buildings, a campus community center, housing complex, child care center, plaza with public art and eateries, parking garages and a campus green.
UCSF is raising funds to realize its vision to bring the medical center to Mission Bay by building a 289-bed, integrated hospital complex to serve children, women and cancer patients on land adjacent from the teaching and research campus at Mission Bay. Upon completion of the first phase of UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay in 2014, the 878,000-gross-square-foot hospital complex will include:
- A 183-bed children’s hospital with urgent, emergency and pediatric primary care and specialty outpatient facilities;
- A 70-bed adult hospital for cancer patients;
- A women’s hospital for cancer care, specialty surgery and select outpatient services, and a 36-bed birth center; and
- An energy center, helipad, parking and support services.
For more information on development at Mission Bay, see this summary [PDF].
Photo by Lisa Cisneros
Related Links:
UCSF Medical Center at Mission Bay
City and County of San Francisco, Redevelopment Agency website