The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has announced that starting next week, the Castro Station south escalator will be out of service for two and a half weeks. The move is necessary to accommodate activities for the Castro elevator accessibility improvement project, the agency stated.
The work – concrete walkway replacement – will temporarily block access to the escalator on the south side of the station. During this time, people can utilize the escalator on the north side for accessibility to the station, the agency stated.
The new four-stop elevator that the city is installing had first been proposed in 2016, as the current elevator for the Castro Muni Station is across the street from its main entrance near Pink Triangle Park where 17th Street meets Market Street, which can be hard to access for wheelchair users and others with mobility issues. If out of service, then there is no way to access the station without using stairs or an escalator.
As the Bay Area Reporter previously reported, the elevator project includes several upgrades to Harvey Milk Plaza, named in honor of the city's first gay supervisor who represented and lived in the Castro. Several of the existing lighting fixtures will be replaced, plus the red paver bricks will be removed to install sparkle grain integral color concrete that matches the paving installed when the sidewalks along Castro Street were widened.
The elevator project will also result in a wider segment sidewalk fronting Market Street headed toward Collingwood Street so it is usable for people in wheelchairs. New plantings, bench seating, and interpretative signage about Milk will also be installed in the plaza's below-grade area adjacent to the subway concourse level.
At the moment much of the back half of the plaza space is behind construction fencing for the second elevator for the subway station at a cost upward of $30 million. It is on track to be completed in 2026, according to San Francisco Public Works spokesperson Rachel Gordon.
The elevator project is separate from the plan to renovate Harvey Milk Plaza. The Friends of Harvey Milk Plaza is leading that effort, which got a boost last November when voters approved Proposition B, a $390 million infrastructure bond that includes $25 million for the plaza. However, as the B.A.R. previously reported, the city won't spend the bond money until the friends group has the rest of the funds raised, which is estimated at between $5 million and $15 million.
The current total cost of the plaza renovation project is estimated at $30 million.
To learn more about the elevator project, click here.
Updated, 2/13/25: This article has been clarified to indicate that the city won't spend the Prop B bond money until the rest of funds for the Milk plaza renovation project have been raised.
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