JFK Drive Smooth to the Ocean Early Tonight

What we've been waiting for: a smooth and safer spin to the ocean

4pm today and two hours to go for both lanes to the Great Highway

Smooth the way we like it along the Queen Wilhelmina Tulip Garden

Last minute breakdown at asphalt plant led to delay

Twilight ride through Golden Gate Park anyone? Plan on one long smooth spin from the start of the Panhandle all the way to the Great Highway. The final repaving work should be completed by 7 pm this evening, give or take a half hour. One of Esquivel Construction's crew members told BIKE NOPA this afternoon that they had expected to be finished by four or five pm today, but then the city asphalt plan broke down. "Now we have to get the asphalt from a plant down the peninsula," he said. But the crew is just as anxious to get the job done as bicyclists are for their first ride all the way to the ocean on smoother, safer asphalt. At 4:30 today the crew needed about 15 more truck loads of steaming asphalt to fill a strip from Bernice Rodgers Way to the tulip garden. After leveling and compacting, the roadway will be open.

Although rain fell in the city Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the total wasn't enough to interrupt the work schedule. Another member of the Esquivel team explained that they could still lay the treated fabric on the roadway since it wasn't soaked through with the small amount of moisture.

One of the first bicyclists to ride the new asphalt lane at the Great Highway was a NOPA neighbor named Shannon, who just happened to appear when I needed a photo for the occasion. A week ago she cleaned out her garage and resurrected her bike which she hadn't used for four years. "Now it's so fun to be out and riding today," she said with all indications that the bike won't be stored away again.

Shannon near the Great Highway