Irving and 5th Avenue / Irving and 6th Avenue stations

Irving and 5th Avenue / Irving and 6th Avenue stations are a pair of light rail stops on the Muni Metro N Judah line, located in the Sunset District neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The eastbound stop is located on Irving Street at 5th Avenue, while westbound trains stop on Irving Street at 6th Avenue.

Irving and 5th Avenue Irving and 6th Avenue
A eastbound train at 5th Avenue in May 2022
General information
Location	Irving Street at 5th and 6th Avenues San Francisco, California
Coordinates	37°45′51″N 122°27′45″W / 37.76422°N 122.46259°W / 37.76422; -122.46259
Platforms	2 side platforms
Tracks	2
Construction
Bicycle facilities	Racks
Accessible	Yes
History
Opened	August 22, 2020 (2020-08-22)^[1]
Services
Preceding station Muni Following station Irving and 8th Avenue / 9th Avenue and Irving towards Ocean Beach N Judah UCSF Parnassus towards 4th and King
Location

The station has transit bulbs which extend the sidewalk of Irving Street to meet trains like a side platform, allowing passengers to board or depart from trains. The bulbs also have mini-high platforms which provide access to both lines for people with disabilities.

The stop is also served by the N Bus and N Owl bus routes, which provide service along the N Judah line during the early morning and late night hours respectively when trains do not operate.^[2]

History

 

An inbound train at the former 7th Avenue stop in 2019

The N Judah line opened on October 21, 1928.^[1] By the 2010s, trains stopped on Irving at several cross streets including 4th Avenue and 7th Avenue. Passengers had to cross travel lanes to board, and neither stop was accessible.^[3]

In March 2014, Muni released details of the proposed implementation of their Transit Effectiveness Project (later rebranded MuniForward), which included a variety of stop changes for the N Judah line. Two stops on Irving Street at 4th Avenue and 7th Avenue would be consolidated into a single stop between 5th and 6th Avenues, with transit bulbs constructed to allow passengers to board directly from the sidewalk.^[3] The eastbound bulb would be adjacent to 5th Avenue, with the westbound bulb adjacent to 6th Avenue. Both bulbs include accessible mini-high platforms.^[4]

Two subprojects – accessible platforms at 28th Avenue, and improvements on Irving Street between 9th Avenue and Arguello – were selected for early implementation in coordination with rail replacement and seismic refitting of the Sunset Tunnel. The latter project (the Inner Sunset Streetscape Project) began construction during weekend shutdowns of the line in September 2017.^[5]

All Muni Metro service was replaced by buses on March 30, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[6] When rail service resumed on August 22, 2020, the 5th Avenue and 6th Avenue stops replaced the former 4th Avenue and 7th Avenue stops.^[7] The station was in service for three days before Muni Metro service was again indefinitely replaced by buses on August 25, 2020, due to malfunctioning overhead wire splices and the need to quarantine control center staff after a COVID-19 case.^[8][9] N Judah service resumed on May 15, 2021.^[10]

References

1. Perles, Anthony (1981). The People's Railway: The History of the Municipal Railway of San Francisco. Interurban Press. p. 96. ISBN 0916374424.
2. "Muni Service Map". SFMTA. July 9, 2022. Retrieved December 2, 2022.
3. "Chapter 3: Proposals by Route". Transit Effectiveness Project Implementation Workbook (PDF). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. March 24, 2014. pp. 65–69.
4. "Irving from 4th to 7th Proposed Changes" (PDF). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. March 24, 2014.
5. Bialick, Aaron (August 29, 2017). "N Judah Bus Substitutions Coming for Inner Sunset Street Upgrades" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
6. Fowler, Amy (March 26, 2020). "Starting March 30: New Muni Service Changes" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency.
7. "Permanent Stop Changes Starting Saturday, August 22, 2020" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. August 2020.
8. "Bus Substitution for All Rail Lines" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. August 25, 2020.
9. Graf, Carly (August 24, 2020). "Muni tells train riders to get back on the bus". San Francisco Examiner.
10. "Welcome Back to the Westside, K Ingleside Trains!" (Press release). San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. April 16, 2021.

External links

  Media related to Irving and 5th Avenue / Irving and 6th Avenue stations at Wikimedia Commons

• SFMTA – Inner Sunset Streetscape Project
• SFMTA – Irving St & 5th Ave and Irving St & 6th Ave