Chinatown Construction Brings Kearny Street and Broadway Tunnel Closures in August

Update, August 18: the long partial closure has started

The full weekend closure happened as planned, from 7 a.m. Sunday, August 16 to 5 a.m. Monday, August 17, a day later than the tentative dates the city gave in July. The tunnel is now in its long phase. The south (eastbound) bore is closed for about seven and a half months while the north (westbound) bore carries one lane in each direction. After that the north bore closes for roughly seven months and the south bore takes both directions. Public Works puts the end of the work at about October 2027.

What that means in practice: one lane each way through the tunnel until fall 2027, and backups at peak times. The regional detours the city identified use Van Ness Avenue, Franklin Street, Bay Street, Columbus Avenue, Bush Street and The Embarcadero. Current details are on the SFMTA’s Chinatown Public Health Center traffic page. Walking routes through Chinatown and North Beach are not affected, and the Powell Street cable car lines still run normally.

San Francisco has begun temporary traffic and transit changes in Chinatown to make room for construction on three city projects: the Portsmouth Square Improvement Project, the Chinatown Public Health Center and the Chinatown/Him Mark Lai Branch Library. The changes run from the end of July into the middle of August, and one of them takes the Broadway Tunnel out of service for a full weekend.

Public Works announced the changes on July 20 and put the start date at July 29. The SFMTA’s Chinatown transportation page dates the first Kearny Street lane closures to July 30 and files the work under “Chinatown Construction: July 30-August 9, 2026.” The Voice of San Francisco reported the closures on July 28.

Kearny Street closes on two weekends

Kearny Street between Clay and Washington streets was fully closed from 1am Saturday, August 1 to 5am Monday, August 3, and again from 1am Saturday, August 8 to 5am Monday, August 10. Crews are demolishing the pedestrian bridge that connects Portsmouth Square to the Hilton San Francisco Financial District. Public Works says removing it adds 20,000 square feet of usable space to the square.

Partial closures on Kearny Street ran July 30 to July 31, August 3 to August 7, and August 10 to August 15. At least two lanes stayed open during those, and short lane closures may happen at other times as demolition proceeds.

Portsmouth Square Garage closed during both full weekend closures, August 1-2 and August 8-9, and stays open on weekdays. Monthly parkers are directed to St. Mary’s Square Garage at 433 Kearny Street.

What changes for Muni riders

The 8 Bayshore rerouted during the weekend closures, and the stop on Kearny Street north of Clay Street was out of service. Riders were directed to the stop on Clay Street at Montgomery, which is also a transfer point for the 1 California, or to the stop on Kearny Street just south of Jackson Street, about a block north. The 8AX and 8BX do not run on weekends, so they were unaffected.

During the weekday partial closures on July 30-31 and August 3-7, the Kearny and Clay stop moved to a temporary stop at Kearny and Commercial streets, southeast corner. During the August 10-15 partial closures the 8 Bayshore kept its normal route and stops. Signs go up at the affected stops.

The Broadway Tunnel timeline

The Chinatown Public Health Center sits directly above Broadway, and the building’s structural supports connect to the tunnel’s east entrance, so the seismic retrofit requires closing the tunnel. Public Works has put the cost of the seismic upgrade at $76 million.

The city is also retiling the tunnel, replacing the lighting with LED fixtures and rebuilding the roadway, the center island and the pedestrian walkways while the work is under way.

If you are visiting Chinatown

The work is on the eastern and southern edges of the neighborhood. Grant Avenue, Stockton Street and the Dragon Gate at Grant and Bush are outside the closure areas, and the Powell Street cable car lines are not part of the reroutes. Local access is being maintained for businesses on the east side of Kearny Street between Clay and Merchant streets during the full closures.

For most visitors the change is about driving and parking rather than walking. If you plan to drive in on a weekend, Portsmouth Square Garage is the one to check first. For where to eat west of the construction, see our guide to dim sum and Chinatown classics, and for the rest of the month see things to do in San Francisco in August 2026.

How long the projects run

Public Works puts construction at about 25 months for Portsmouth Square, 30 months for the Chinatown Public Health Center and 30 months for the library, which starts construction in the fall of 2026. The three projects together come to more than $150 million. Traffic and transit plans are subject to change, and SFMTA posts current details on its Chinatown transportation updates page.

Photo: Supercarwaar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.