Fort Mason Tunnel

Fort Mason Tunnel

The west portal of the Fort Mason Tunnel in disuse
Overview
Line	State Belt Railroad
Location	San Francisco, California
Coordinates
Status	Closed
Start	Van Ness
End	Marina Blvd. at Laguna St.
No. of stations	None
Operation
Opened	1914
Owner	National Park Service
Character	Underground tunnel
Technical
No. of tracks	1
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) (standard gauge)

Fort Mason Tunnel is a single track railway tunnel in San Francisco. It was built in 1914 to bypass Fort Mason. The east portal is near the north end of Van Ness Avenue, and the west portal feeds onto the east end of Marina Boulevard at Laguna Street.

History

Its construction in 1914 served several purposes. The rail link supplied goods and mass transit to the Panama Pacific International Exposition the following year, and the US Army utilized the line for construction of the Port of Embarkation. The tunnel operated as part of the State Belt Railroad until the route's suspension in 1993.

Future

In 2012, the National Park Service released a final environmental impact report on providing extended service though the tunnel to the San Francisco Municipal Railway F Market & Wharves line. The E Embarcadero line may also see extension through the tunnel.