Doyle Driver Milestone Celebrated This Week

Federal, state and local officials are celebrating another  milestone in the conversion of San Francisco's Doyle Drive to the Presidio  Parkway.
   
 Officials will attend a groundbreaking ceremony this morning  commemorating the project's second major construction contract, one to build  the southbound Battery Tunnel and a temporary traffic bypass.
     
Built in 1936, the south access road to the Golden Gate Bridge  that carries more than 100,000 commuters each weekday is being replaced after  it was deemed seismically unsafe.
     
Construction is already under way on the first of four tunnels,  which will lower the roadway and increase park space. The seimic safety  improvements are expected to be completed by 2013.
     
Mayor Gavin Newsom and Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi will join the  Federal Highway Administration's Victor Mendez, Caltrans director Cindy McKim  and Business, Transportation and Housing Agency Secretary Dale Bonner for the  tunnel groundbreaking celebration.
   
 Jose Luis Moscovich, executive director of the San Francisco  County Transportation Authority, will preside over the ceremony.
     
Small business owner Julie Berry, president of CalCon Pumping,  will also speak this morning about her ability to hire more workers and  acquire additional infrastructure thanks to CalCon's participation in two  project contracts valued at $3 million.
   
 The ceremony will begin at 10 a.m. on the site linking the future  Battery Tunnels and High Viaduct Bridge. Directions to the event can be found  at www.presidioparkway.org.
     
The contract is funded entirely by President Obama's American  Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 and has received more than $100 million  in federal stimulus dollars.