That will change the travel time by over 32 percent thats big that is big when you rely on muni to get you back and forth every single day to our example work and designation one of the most important projects in the city and i cant wait until that happens because it is going to make a huge difference address isly with improvements comes sacrifice so for the next 3 years well have sacrifice do send me emails complaining when it is done youll thank us to create something great for the future thank you all so much. Thank you supervisor president london breed. One of our Main Partners is the community of Transportation Authority they lead the first phase the planning and get United States to e got us to a point theyre a Strong Partner and were pleased to be joined by now the chair of the Transportation Authority who during his first couple of terms in office sat at the Transportation Authority when the project was coming to light please help me welcome chair the ta Commission Supervisor peskin. clapping. thank you, ed and by way of the history didnt start during my first term in 2000 behind us this was the firebreak from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake o were on time and on budget so with little disruption there will be disruption weve been doing a lot of outreach with the community to best manage and might mitigate one of the unique aspects of this project as you heard most of us feel like van ness is a San Francisco city street that is our street and while that themselves that way technically this is the state highway so the street didnt belong to us this street belongs to the state of california so were very grateful to have as we do with the federal government a great partner in the State Government maneuvered in the leadership of the district 4 director of caltrans who with his staff we work closely at the levels of detail to make sure that design will work for the state highway so i want to thank him and his staff for the great work and please join me in welcoming for caltra caltrans. Thank you, ed good morning mayor and supervisors and distinguished guests and agencies and staff and members of the public it is a pleasure to be here today to join all of you as we break ground for the first brt project in San Francisco weve been wanting to reach this milling and reaching this point in the project is reflective of the tireless work for the federal and state and redeeming level those who had the vision for the project those who helped fund it can and the great staff of all agencies that naektd in through the maze of approval necessary for us to reach this point as was stated earlier van ness project brt utilities the dedicated places separated from the paragraph on the u. S. 101 will be used by muni and golden gate Transit Route 101 and then van ness is a regional important route serving 45 thousand people driving on this road everyday and helps navigate those people from the peninsula to the south side and to the north and also obviously the main street in the city of San Francisco lined with mixed use and other mixed use spaces that will enhance the traffic separation within the two mile corridor that will separate transit from auto and stations between traffic times reduces the delays and increase the ridership and improve the safety and increase the transit reliability on behalf of caltrans we thank you for inviting us to be here to celebrate 24 event this project when completed will make van ness more important to these who will use it more efficient and sustainable Transit System moving more people and helping to improve the quality of life of the residents for this great city id like to recognize and thank all the agencies staff that working hard on this project to deliver this and especially id like to thank my staff another caltrans can i see all caltrans people stand up please and be recognized. clapping. as ed said youll all the agencies working hard to solve the problems and the issues that were raised to us and the development of the project congratulations to the city and let this project get started thank you thank you so from federal so state to local that the partnership is expensive one throughout the many Government Agencies as mentioned but again really the led agency that gave birth to the project really got the process going back in the 2000 was the Community Transport authority they lead the initial planning and our as the chair said a funder of the this project were pleased to be joined by the executive director of Transportation Authority tilly chang. clapping. good morning, everyone sew so much and ed and for all of you for being here on this happy day mayor ed lee, supervisors and director brinkman and excuseme. Supervisor peskin thank you for mentioning the state and local partnership the whole vision weve had to transform this street that deserves a great transportation design here we are can you believe that congratulations to you this is a team in the region and the state and the federal government that will build the first full featured brt line in San Francisco the van ness corridors Improvement Project is going to do nothing less than transform this corridor into a worldclass complete street and a model nation wide and in the world and sets standards of fast reliable trait for muni our vision was codified by voters in 2003 when they approved the citywide Rapid Transit buses that turned into this as long as and muni forward approved by 75 percent of voters thank you to the transportation bond and prop a and prop b and thank you for your support for great transit and transportation in the city local funds in fact, comprise a walk e whooping 52 percent 52 percent are were so grateful for the federal Transit Administration for the 75 million for the caltrans providing active transportation and Highway Maintenance and Operation Fund but 52 percent local providers through the transportation measures as well as the puc are really the anchor the anchor for the project and the support and the trust theyve pla theyve placed i want to recognize the team the cac the Advisory Committee that convenes 27 times to offer 6 years thank you so much ill not name you but cross 4 district thank you. Please give them a hand that work is led with the Advisory Committee and any group providing that important outreach and input into the project a including the business Advisory Committee all over the place thank you candice and your Communication Team for leading that vertebrae robust outreach we want to thank, of course, the Board Members of the agencies past generations to the point they guide the work as well our staff director reiskin thank you for your partnership and the puc and Mohammed Nuru and director kelly and john haley the city traffic engineer and others working with teams with the staff on district 4 we had endless discussions many debates buses also including the collaboration go compromise in some cases it came down to interest is that; right . And speaking of the p. M. The project managers peter where are you. clapping. youre our hero. Thank you for your leadership and phase and the prior phase working with bob and sherry and others michael and rachel you lead the project design and development for the past 10 years and the team that peter and others assembled youll take us into the future thank you for your consideration and in and the robust design for the construction effort Going Forward for future generations to come thank you, tilly if we tried to acknowledge all the folks that put their blood, sweat, and tears we could be here all day truly so many people from the agencies that have worked hard to get us to where we are one that is worthy mentioning jose was someone i remember mohammed and i went up to sacramento he did a lot of work in his tenure and acknowledge him as well and lots of folks go no longer with the city or state of federal government had a hand in that within our agency not a part of the organization that was not part of this from the traffic engineers to the finance folks communications assessable services, safety, of course, traffic folks an incredibly strong team effort working across the agencies water and sewer and puc the great planning and financial folks at the Transportation Authority, the Arts Commission not too many city agencies have not touched this project and ultimately with all that good work it came down to the sfmta Disorderly Conduct to put together this funding and approve the project after that the environmental document was finalized wouldnt have been possible without the without sfmta and i see a couple members of the board calling names and currently now under the great leadership of the chair of the board of sfmta please join me in welcoming Cheryl Brinkman thank you, thank you im excited this project includes the benefits for all road users and practice the goals of sfmta transit were helping not only muni but go not only golden gate riders as well as this project will improve both frequency and reliability for all the transit users for people walking well have safer and friendly streets to achieve a citywide vision zero goal at circulations improvements and smoother pavement there is a high need for this project not only the 16 thousand muni riders that supervisor president london breed references but 8 house golden gate riders use that with 24 development coming online those riders will be joined with people on foot and on buses thank you all very much. clapping. thank you Cheryl Brinkman the shoves shovels are being sharpened but thank you to my partner in the streets of San Francisco our public works director to say a few words theyre the partner in delivering projects there are unique aspects of working with the public works support were using a unique mechanism it is called the contract approach different than your typical lump sum low cost build public works has had a lot of experience with this bringing to our support that experience for this long horizontal project as well as great design support and support in many ways please help me welcome the director of the Department Public works Mohammed Nuru. Thank you. clapping. ed and thank you for your speakers as you can see are true testimony on everybody working together to make a project come through and in public works how rare do we get an opportunity to do a lot of things it in one project new sewer lines and water and bus platforms but also the beauty of project its the landscaping the sidewalks and the adu the connections from the ramps all making one cool project so many people with the design especially i want to thank caltrans it is their highway and all the agreements and new york city and the possible words we had to do yes louis was instrumental i remember one day at 4 oclock in the morning we went to sacramento and fighting over just to make that project come through today is a reality were already started the work im excited and happy that the project is moving forward it is going to make a huge difference and commissioner london breed made that clear it is a different time our city is growing we need accommodate the growth from public works i want to thank our engineering staff calling names theyve been on the project making sure that everything is happening because some of the work and from the Landscape Team calling names they have been part of landscape will be new trees and new plants night connection itself when you walk or ride youre bicycle so we appreciate all that and for the Environmental Compliance and everyone that worked hard to make that project it is a great example of Rapid Transit and it is first here in the bay area im excited about it, too so thank you very much and thank you, everyone. clapping. thanks mohammed when he was talking about agreements what comes with agreements lawyers a lot of legal work with the Funding Agreement and the permitting i want to announce the City Attorneys Office a number of firms with the h ac b and others and, of course, our construction general contractor will be a publicprivate effort but kind of last but more for the voice for the community for all this great work and all the great work for all the levels of government this project is not for us but for the people we all serve the people that live and work on the corridor and travel two or more and the corridor those are the beneficiaries of this i mentioned because alcohol, tobacco firearms scale and complexity we have two Advisory Committees and a Business Committee their guidance is important so ultimately it is they are serving were pleased to have the chair of the citizens Advisory Committee here to join us please join me in welcoming alex wilson km. Thank you for the construction workers wouldnt have been possible without the group thank you for making this happen im a little bit surprised was under the impression 3 van ness was my road in any neighborhood and the voters have you approved this i see that as definitely all our roads when i moved to San Francisco in 2009 traveling van ness was a part of route i radioed it and craved critical upgrades to van ness for the major corridors and because it is a part of my neighborhood i wanted more efficient buses and safer sidewalks augusts a clear crosswalks and better traffic lanes so the traffic can move for efficiently were all here today throwing paper because we love and care about our city a city of doers we index what is broken and strive for improvements from tech and corporate to the nonprofit were the epic center of solutions the van ness project is a small example what it means to be a san franciscan to fix and improve by a what is not working our neighborhood will serve as an example to other neighborhood and drivers and pedestrians and businesses and residents me all of us, will benefit from the van ness Improvement Project our road will be savor your buses will run more efficiently and our pedestrians will have beautiful sidewalks to stroll down as a neighbor i look forward to more trans investigating van ness i look forward to the journey thank you very much. clapping. thank you alexs and thank you for the correction the state owns the street but the streets belong to the people of San Francisco and the people of california thats a good reminder were ready now if you didnt get a goody bag grab one ask the folks the leaders to dawn their helmets well move and break ground ready set go. Okay. Ready get set, lets get to work. Yeah. clapping. let the work begin thank you,