Two Major Golden Gate Park Projects Set to Begin

By Lauren D. Yee

Those familiar with Golden Gate Park will be noticing some changes this summer.

Workers are already making preparations to rehabilitate the ailing North Lake, as the first of two projects by the San Francisco Department of Recreation and Parks to improve Golden Gate Park. The second project, which is set to begin later this year, includes traffic lane realignment at the park's East Entrance.

The North Lake rehabilitation, which is slated to begin in July, will feature a total redevelopment of the lake. Contracted to Subsurface Environmental Corp, the $2.8 million plan entails "draining the lake and excavating all the silt and other fine materials," according to project director Dan Mauer.

Mauer said the root of the North Lake's troubles lies in its depth, which has become more and more shallow throughout the years. "The lake is basically leaking," he said. "We want to redefine the bed and bring in native plants."

In place of the lake's currently silt-filled bottom, the department plans to install a clay lining on the lake floor to stop gradual water loss and bring the lake back up to its normal depth.

When a lake is as shallow as the North Lake is, "it warms up and when the temperature warms up, it affects the wildlife in the lake," Mauer said, adding that over the years many types of exotic and invasive plants, which thrive in the shallower depths, have overrun the North Lake, making the lake difficult for the staff to maintain.

According to Mauer, draining and redeveloping a lake is not unusual, especially when the lake is artificial, as the North Lake and several other lakes around the park are. Like the North Lake, these other artificial lakes will most likely go through the same process once adequate funding can be secured.

The multimillion-dollar rehabilitation finally makes use of funds from the 1992 Park Infrastructure Bond. The planned improvements to the park's East Entrance will also draw from the same source of bond money, according to a May 1 memo from Mauer to the Finance Committee of the SF Recreation and Park Commission.

In the memo, engineers estimated the total cost of the East Entrance construction to be $932,790. Although King C. Electric Inc. submitted the lowest bid for the job, the commission is currently reviewing a dispute over the bid.

Mauer said the Recreation and Park Commission will meet again in July to determine whom they will award the contract to. Once the commission has chosen a contractor, construction will begin on the project after a two-month waiting period.

The major improvements to the East Entrance include reducing the number of lanes going through the park from Fell Street and John F. Kennedy, Jr. Drive, as well as the eastbound route exiting the park.

Mauer said the renovation to the East Entrance is meant to "slow the speed of traffic into the park."

According to Mauer, another goal of the plan is to "improve pedestrian and cyclist safety." The project will add a bicycle lane for cyclists near the park's panhandle heading westbound along JFK Drive, as well as decrease the turning angle of traffic in the park via reconfigued traffic lanes, thereby making turning on the road safer.

Although the estimated six months of construction on the entrance could span until June of next year, depending on how quickly construction begins, Mauer said cars typically going through the East Entrance will be diverted to "alternate traffic routing so as not to impede" the flow of traffic.

"It (traffic) won't be worse than it is now," Mauer said.

Though the reduction of lanes will decrease the number of cars able to travel through the lanes, engineers who have studied the roads have told Mauer that the fewer number of lanes will not adversely affect the flow of traffic once the East Entrance is opened again.

The memo also mentioned other improvements, such as improving roadway markings and modifying the traffic signal at Stanyan Street and Kezar Drive. Mauer added that plans also include reducing the amount of asphalt near the East Entrance by converting some of it into landscape and adding two landscaped islands.

Mauer said he hopes to continue improvements to several other sites in the park once adequate funding becomes available. However, according to Mauer, the East Entrance and the North Lake received help first because they "were priorities" on the park's list.

The Recreation and Park Commission targeted the North Lake because of its reputation as "the worst lake in the park" condition-wise and the East Entrance because it "was high on the public's list" in terms of safety concerns.