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.^[1] 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

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.^[4] The cost of refurbishment and extension of the rail line was estimated at $60 million in 2017.^[5]