San Francisco public transit riders are going to have to wait a little longer to take an underground train from the South of Market neighborhood to Chinatown, as the Central Subway project has been delayed yet again.
When ground was broken a decade ago, the Central Subway was expected to open in 2018, but various complications pushed that to the end of next year.
Now, officials think the subway will be open to the public in early 2022, said San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Deputy Director Tom Maguire.
Maguire told KCBS Radio that the latest delay was caused by COVID-19 infections among work crews.
"On any given day, there are hundreds of people working underground in very close quarters, and we've had three different instances where we've had several workers test positive, including one outbreak in which 19 workers tested positive," he said.
Quarantine protocols have cost weeks of progress each time this has happened, but Maguire noted that construction on the project is close to being finished and the architecture is beautiful.
"You can really start to see just how spectacular the spaces are, how beautiful the public art is and how clean and modern the system will be once we are able to offer people rides," he said.
Maguire added that the work is currently back on track.
