Utility Slot Trenching on Townsend Street between 3rd to 7th streets and along Clementina & 2nd street and at the intersection of 2nd & Howard street

The Transbay Joint Powers Authority (TJPA), delivering the Downtown Rail Extension (DTX), also known as The Portal, through its subcontractor, Bess Testlab, Inc. (Bess), will be excavating five - one foot wide, slot trenches across Townsend between 3rd and 5th Streets and on 2nd Street at the Howard Street intersection and at Clementina Street. The purpose of this work is to expose and map underground utilities (i.e. domestic water, sewer, power, telecom/data, etc). Bess will excavate one slot trench at a time, careful to sequence work to keep pedestrian, bike and vehicle traffic flowing during the work. When Bess is not working trench areas will be covered with steel plates. The road surface will be ground down, so plates are flush with pavement to make a smooth even surface. After the utilities are mapped, work crews will backfill and repave the trench area.

The work will occur from Monday, July 15th to Sunday, September 8th, 2024, with expected hours of operations from 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. on weekdays and 7 a.m. – 5 p.m., on weekends.

See PDF for more details on potential impacts and what you can expect.