The Emergency Firefighting Water System – officially called the Auxiliary Water Supply System (AWSS) – is an independent high-pressure water supply system dedicated to fire protection. It was built in 1913 in response to the 1906 Great Earthquake.  It consists of a 135-mile pipeline network, a high-elevation reservoir and two large-capacity tanks, two pumping stations, fireboats, underground water tanks (cisterns) and Bay water intakes (suction connections).

San Francisco voters approved a $628.5 million Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response (ESER) bond during the March 2020 election. The bond, which is the third installment of the ESER program, will fund upgrades and much-needed improvements to capital infrastructure that will allow San Francisco to quickly respond to a major earthquake or other disaster and recover from its aftermath.

Earthquake Safety and Emergency Response (ESER) is San Francisco's bond program to strategically address critical public safety needs in the City. The program identifies seismic improvements and upgrades to City-owned facilities that are needed to help safeguard San Francisco.

The third phase of the ESER bond program was approved by voters with 82 percent approval during the March 2020 election. ESER 2020 will continue the work of the previous two ESER bonds that were overwhelmingly approved by voters in 2010 and 2014.

Alemany Blvd., under the Highway 280 and 101 interchange, is a heavily trafficked and auto-dominated street associated with off-ramps and on-ramps. The Alemany Interchange Improvement Project will bring imperative improvements to the safety, accessibility and aesthetic qualities of Alemany Blvd. Pedestrians travel the area between San Bruno Avenue and the northern side of Alemany (aka The Farmer’s Market) on a regular basis.

Construction Update November to December 2023

Wetmore and Clay St. Intersection 

Japantown’s Buchanan Mall is the pedestrian portion of Buchanan Street that runs for one block between Post and Sutter streets. Along with Peace Plaza, it’s the geographic and cultural heart of the neighborhood. The Mall is paved with a river of cobblestones, connecting two fountain installations, consisting of origami flower forms designed by renowned artist Ruth Asawa, and surrounded by low, circular stone walls.

Project Update (May 2024)
All work on this contract is almost complete. The contractor continues punch list work on this project. We anticipate the punch list work to be complete in June 2024.

San Francisco Public Works hired Hernandez Engineering to complete the Fern Street West Improvements Project. The project limits were Fern Street between Polk Street and Van Ness Avenue. Construction began in April 2022 and was completed in October 2022.

Project Update (Week of March 27, 2023)