Head south from Golden Gate Park on Ninth Avenue and the pavement changes at Kirkham Street. Roxie Market & Delicatessen sits on one corner and Sunshine Cleaners across the way. From there to Lawton, the asphalt is rutted, patched and cracked. Muni buses bounce through it. One cyclist described it to the Richmond Review/Sunset Beacon as "so rutted, so scarred, that it's hard riding."
This block was supposed to be repaved in 2021. In August, the Sunset Beacon reported that San Francisco Public Works now lists 2031 as the target, ten years late. The block's problem is what hangs above it. The overhead wires that power four bus lines make a routine repaving into a job several agencies have to coordinate, and Public Works has slotted it into a larger multi-block resurfacing operation.
A score of 19 on a 100-point scale
Public Works rates every block in the city with a Pavement Condition Index, or PCI. Zero means a "pothole-riddled crumbling street." One hundred means freshly resurfaced. The city's public PCI dataset lists Ninth Avenue from Kirkham to Lawton at 19, based on a survey dated September 2025. The city classifies the block as a collector street.
That score means more next to the city's own scale and its block counts. Here they are from Public Works' November 2025 resurfacing update to its commission:
| PCI band | Score range | Citywide blocks, December 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Very Poor | 0 to 25 | 171 |
| Poor and At-Risk | 25 to 60 | 1,698 |
| Good and Excellent | 60 to 100 | 11,174 |
As of December 2024, 171 blocks in all of San Francisco fell in the Very Poor band, about one block in 75. Ninth between Kirkham and Lawton is one of them. The update also charts a 2025 projection of about 75 for the citywide average, which puts this block more than 50 points below a typical city street.
The block one stretch north shows the difference. Ninth Avenue from Irving to Judah was repaved during the SFMTA and Public Works Inner Sunset streetscape project, built from 2017 to 2019. That project stopped before the Kirkham-to-Lawton block.
Four bus lines, and wires that have to go dark
The PCI score explains why the block needs work. The bus lines explain why the work keeps slipping. According to the Sunset Beacon, the 6-Parnassus, 43-Masonic, 44-O'Shaughnessy and 66-Quintara all use this block, and the N-Judah runs on Ninth for a couple of blocks just north before turning onto Judah Street.
Public Works spokesperson Patrick Riley told the paper that the high-voltage lines powering Muni's buses along Ninth "must be turned off (de-energized) before we can bring in the heavy equipment needed for paving." Doing that safely takes specialized personnel, and the SFMTA oversees the work. SFMTA's construction support guidance describes that service in general terms. The agency de-energizes overhead lines so construction can happen safely near them, and it supplies inspectors, rerouting and clearances for work on Muni streets.
So a paving crew can't just show up. The wires have to be shut off, buses rerouted, and two agencies have to line up their schedules on the same days.
A heavier scope than the average block
Riley listed the scope as of August: "extensive concrete street base repair work; two bus pad installations at two bus stops; overhead wire de-energization; full block grind-and-pave." Grind-and-pave is the city's treatment for streets that are past sealing. Crews remove the top two inches of asphalt and lay two new inches across the whole segment.
Public Works' November 2025 update breaks down what an average paving block costs. The list shows which line items this block's scope touches:
- Average block, all in: $260,000
- Paving itself: $65,000
- Localized base repair: $55,000
- Four curb ramps: $60,000
- Staff time for planning, design and construction management: $50,000
- Overhead contact system work: $6,000
- Traffic routing: $13,000
Wire work on an average block is a small line item. This block's listed scope adds to several of those lines at once. Its base repair is described as "extensive," two bus pads go on top of that, and the wires must be de-energized. Riley gave the Sunset Beacon the range. A block in good shape can be maintained for as little as $50,000, and fully reconstructing a block in very poor condition can cost more than half a million dollars.
Why it waits for a bigger contract
Public Works doesn't usually bid streets one block at a time. Riley said this stretch "is currently slated for paving in 2031 as part of a larger street resurfacing operation." Recent contract awards show how those batches are built. Most carry generic names such as "Various Locations No. 68." One awarded in October 2024 was labeled "Various Locations No. 67B (OCS)," a $7.2 million contract covering 25 blocks. OCS is the same overhead contact system abbreviation used in the cost breakdown, which suggests the city has packaged wire-related paving as its own contract before. Riley explained the general logic: "Larger projects help spread costs out for the mobilization and work of the contractor."
A low score alone doesn't set the date. Public Works says it weighs PCI alongside transit use, readiness, coordination with utilities and other agencies, geographic equity across the city, and funding projections it calls "very dynamic." A score of 19 puts the block on the list, and Riley's 2031 date ties it to that larger operation.
The agency is also clear that dates can move. Its own language says resurfacing candidates "are NOT guaranteed to be moved forward to construction" and can be "postponed or dropped from consideration." So 2031 is a target Riley gave in August, not a fixed date.
The faster option, and what it costs
Riley also described a way to pave sooner. Public Works was exploring a Job Order Contract, which would skip the usual low-bid advertising and add this block to an existing contractor's work as a one-off job. He spelled out the tradeoff: "we would not benefit from the economics of scale provided by a larger project, which means it would likely be more expensive." In the near term, he said an in-house crew would be sent to patch potholes. As of the August report, the Job Order Contract was an option under study, not an approved plan.
The Sunset Heights Association of Responsible People, a neighbor group called SHARP, has been pressing the city on the block. A SHARP member told the Sunset Beacon why it matters: "It's the entrance into Golden Gate Park. And it's also an entrance to the Irving Street/Ninth Avenue merchant district, which is already clogged."
The bigger N-Judah project won't fix this block
SFMTA's N Judah Transit & Safety Project runs on a schedule that looks similar. Outreach continues through spring 2027, board legislation is expected in summer 2027, quick-build work in 2028, construction from 2029 to 2031, and projected completion in 2031. That project covers the N-Judah's street-running route from Church and Duboce to Ocean Beach. The Inner Sunset transportation study, approved in June 2026, recommends its nearby improvements at Ninth and Judah, including signal upgrades and wider sidewalks. Those are blocks north of Kirkham. The paving target and the rail project end the same year, but nothing published so far connects the two.
Getting around it this winter
Until it's repaved, the block will see more traffic. Lightscape returns to the San Francisco Botanical Garden at 1199 Ninth Avenue from November 20, 2026, to January 3, 2027, with a member preview on November 19. The garden suggests arriving on foot, by bike, by transit or by rideshare. Ninth Avenue is the obvious way in from the south.
People who ride already have detours. A cyclist told the Sunset Beacon that he mostly uses Eighth Avenue. He noted that Seventh Avenue has a bike lane and an easier grade than this block of Ninth, though it carries more traffic. For the potholes themselves, Public Works sends reports through SF311. Public Works says it investigates public inquiries about resurfacing and checks a block against its five-year excavation plan before scheduling it. The resurfacing program's interactive map shows where paving candidates stand.
Questions like this one, such as what's scheduled on your block, whose project it is and how firm the date is, come up again when it's time to sell, because buyers ask about them. If you own nearby and want to know how the details of your street affect what your home is worth, Claudia Siegel is happy to go through them with you. Request a home valuation and we'll start with your block.
