Misplaced Pages

Fort Mason Tunnel

The west portal of the Fort Mason Tunnel in disuse as seen in June 2017
Overview
Line	State Belt Railroad
Location	San Francisco, California
Coordinates	37°48′19″N 122°25′52″W / 37.8054°N 122.43118°W / 37.8054; -122.43118
Start	Van Ness
End	Marina Bl. at Laguna St.
Operation
Opened	1914
Closed	1993
Owner	National Park Service
Character	Tunnel
Technical
No. of tracks	1
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge

Fort Mason Tunnel is an abandoned single-track railway tunnel in San Francisco which runs under a small hill upon which sits a portion of the old Fort Mason. The tunnel was constructed in 1913 and opened to rail traffic in 1914. The east portal is near the north end of Van Ness Avenue; the west portal feeds onto Marina Boulevard at Laguna Street.

History

The tunnel's construction served several purposes. The rail link supplied goods and mass transit to the Panama Pacific International Exposition the following year; the U.S. Army utilized the line for construction of the port of embarkation at Fort Mason. The tunnel operated as part of the State Belt Railroad until the route's suspension in 1993. A portion of the movie Dirty Harry was filmed on either side of the tunnel in 1971.

Future

Fort Mason extension
Legend
Fort Mason proposed Fort Mason Tunnel proposed Van Ness proposed Powell–Hyde Hyde and Beach proposed Jones and Beach

In 2012, the National Park Service released a final environmental impact report on providing extended service through the tunnel to the San Francisco Municipal Railway F Market & Wharves line. The cost of refurbishment and extension of the rail line was estimated at $60 million in 2017.

References

1. 4th Biennial Report of the Department of Engineering of the State of California, pp. 41-42
2. "The San Francisco Port of Embarkation". NPS.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
3. "Film Locations for Dirty Harry (1971), around San Francisco".
4. "Extension of F-Line Streetcar Service to Fort Mason Center" (PDF). NPS.gov. National Park Service. Retrieved September 15, 2020.
5. Chappell, Jim (June 28, 2016). "Bring streetcars to Fort Mason". The San Francisco Examiner. Retrieved June 4, 2017.

v t e Tunnels in the San Francisco Bay Area
Rail	ACE Niles Canyon BART Berkeley Hills Berkeley Subway Fremont Central Park Market (lower level) Oakland Wye Silicon Valley BART extension (2036) Transbay BNSF Franklin Muni Metro Central Fort Mason (proposed) Geary (proposed) Market (upper level) Sunset Twin Peaks Caltrain Bayshore Cutoff The Portal (proposed) SMART Cal Park Hill Puerto Suello Hill CAHSR Pacheco Pass (proposed) Valley Link Summit Tunnel (proposed) Abandoned Alto Wrights
Road	San Francisco Broadway Fillmore (proposed) Geary–Masonic MacArthur Presidio Parkway Southern Crossing (proposed) Stockton Yerba Buena East Bay Caldecott Ferry Point Northbrae Posey and Webster North Bay Baker–Barry Robin Williams (Waldo) Peninsula Tom Lantos
Utility	Claremont Hetch Hetchy Mile Rock

This United States tunnel–related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This United States rail–related article is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This article about transportation in California is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

This article about a building or structure in San Francisco is a stub. You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it.

• v
• t
• e

• Railroad tunnels in California
• Tunnels in San Francisco
• Fisherman's Wharf, San Francisco
• Golden Gate National Recreation Area
• Tunnels completed in 1914
• 1914 establishments in California
• Muni Metro
• Proposed public transportation in the San Francisco Bay Area
• Proposed railway lines in California
• Proposed railway tunnels in North America
• American tunnel stubs
• United States rail transportation stubs
• California transportation stubs
• San Francisco building and structure stubs