By Dave Groeschel, HANC Merchant Liason

On February 17, a partnering meeting with agencies involved in this project was held. The purpose was to set up guidelines for communication between the different entities and set goals to make sure the project is completed safely and swiftly. There will also be disruptions to parking and traffic during the estimated 18-month-long project. The project is expected to begin again sometime in March 2016.

DPW will assign an inspector full-time to the project. PG&E and Ghilotti Bros. will also have safety people on the project. When there will be digging, the safety reps will meet in the morning to go over maps of where gas lines are located. There will be more “pothole” digging to confirm.

All workers will undergo additional safety training. If there is a gas line hit, then they will notify the fire department and the public can use the SF311 app to report problems and get information.

This project will impact parking. There will be periods when spaces will be marked as tow-away to accommodate buses needing the extra space when the center of the street is torn up. There will be other times that spaces are needed for equipment parking or storing of materials.