Highway 1 closure in San Francisco expected to snarl Sunset traffic all weekend
San Francisco drivers may soon experience even worse traffic than they did last weekend when a part of Interstate 80 shut down. This weekend, Highway 1 northbound from Sloat to Lincoln in the Sunset District will be closed starting Friday morning.
Muriel Scala has lived on 19th Avenue for over 20 years. She's lost count of the endless construction projects in front of her home.
"It's like having a mini earthquake every day in your house," Scala said.
Scala is not looking forward to CalTrans repaving 19th Avenue. Starting at 7 a.m. Friday, the northbound lanes will be closed until Monday, with two additional closures over the next month to fix all 6 lanes of Highway 1.
"I'm frustrated because I don't see an end result," she said. "It keeps happening."
Some other neighbors on 19th Avenue shared the same frustrations.
"It's the price I pay to live on 19th Avenue, honestly," Bailey Zuk said.
Zuk is worried about the parking and traffic. She has made plans to take public transportation all weekend. She doesn't like the disruption and noise but knows 19th Avenue has to be fixed.
"Which is obviously really needed, like there are so many potholes," Zuk said. "I drive up and down 19th Avenue every day and there's so many potholes already."
Some of the businesses along the main business corridor on Irving Street say they didn't know that the closure was even happening. Jet Seeto with The Mochi Donut Shop just heard about it yesterday.
"We are the little guy in this area," Seetos said. "We need to accept it and prepare ourselves."
Seeto says she's preparing to drum up more business by doing online orders, even offering delivery if people are reluctant to drive. She's trying to stay positive about the 19th Avenue closure.
"It is what it is because it affects anyway," Seeto said. "If I think I worry too much, it doesn't help me."
And residents say they will do the same.. as they brace themselves for 3 weekends of road work.
"It's not going to stop doing what I need to do," Scala said. "I'm going to keep doing it."