[applause] >> thank you. always good to be here, mr. mayor. i just had a few words. first of all, thank you to jose louis, not only for the kind words, but for his fortitude and steadfast leadership which has moved this project along over a number of years. i wanted to say thank you to him as an individual and the san francisco county transportation authority and all the local partners that have worked hard to get us here today. also, thank you to victor mendez, federal highway administration, u.s. dot, not only for the money, but for the partnership. butch, good to see you back on

your feet again. these guys have been that almost every meeting of consequence on this, so the federal government has been very much engaged, working with us along the way. weasel -- we also want to acknowledge that come into my right. -- the gentleman to my right. before he takes off, he is a hard-working man. [laughter] this is just one of many complex and major projects that are underway in the bay area. i sleep better at night knowing that there are moving this forward because they do such a great job. all the people here in hard hats, vests, i want to the knowledge the hard work you do. you are the ones that take the

raw materials and then turn them into world class projects that will stand the test of time, keep people safe, and keep traffic moving for many years into the future. thank you for the work that you do. we are here today celebrating a major milestone, getting the tunnel under construction. i just want to emphasize how important the entire project is. we had been working hard with a regional partners around the state to get a 10-year mobility strategy. when you look at projects of critical value in the area, this project is at the top of the list. some years later, we passed legislation in sacramento identify critical infrastructure projects which warranted some priority treatment. and there again you had this project. more recently, when the federal stimulus bill about building, we

start looking with a regional partners and the federal government. again, this project was at the top of the list. so there is no question it is not just a milestone of this, but it is the entire phase one and phase two side of the safety work and the rest that we need to see through. thank you to everyone here today. we will continue to work together to get not only this part of the project done, but the entire project done, on time, and under budget. thank you for being here. [applause] >> thank you, mr. secretary. i just cannot imagine the federal highway administrator going back to washington to be asked how the event was and only remember him sitting next to me shivering.

that does that bode well for us. we need to do better in the future. mr. administrator, we will that sure that we have better weather the next time you come out in the summer. that is a promise. that knowledge a couple more people. the partnership that had borne fruit in the form of the presidio park way involves representation in sacramento. i can say with complete conviction, all four representatives of sacramento are supporters of doylr drive, the presidio parkway. they were all members of the transportation board and understand parts of the project. more than that, they understand the importance of perseverance and sticking with one voice.

that is what we do in san francisco. thanks to the productive partnership we have had with mayor gavin newsom. thank you to his leadership. i may sound like a broken record, but the truth has amazing staying power. no other mayor, at least in my tenure, has been more clear about the importance of replacing doyle drive with the parkway, been more supportive, far more effective in bringing the region to a consensus on a funding plan for the project and the need to bring it to fruition immediately. there is a debt of gratitude to the mayor for his leadership. we are honored to have him here today.

i am honored to welcome him to the podium. >> thank you for your patience. thank you for taking the time to come out from washington, d.c.. dale, thank you for your stewardship in the region. i want to thank everybody who has already acknowledged. on behalf of jose, well done. i think this is my fifth groundbreaking. unbelievable. we were here with senator boxer, twice with speaker policy. i think we found some neighbors and did one of our own. this is a product that goes back many years. i remember when i was 10 years old, the parking and traffic commission in 1996 to reject never talking about this project.

in 1955, folks said that it was time to fix this half hour affair. -- the repair -- thoroughfare. it needed to be structurally change. hundreds of thousands of vehicles go across every day. on the weekend, we see just as many cars built over as we do during the weekdays. this is a vital link to the economic vibrancy to the northern part of the state and it is essential that we are here. we've received victor in your organization, a number of structural safety rating of 2, not out of time, but out of 100. one of the seismically structurally unsafe structure in

the country. but that in perspective. you remember the calamity in minneapolis. that had a structural safety rating of 50, and it was designed not the similarly to the design that currently exists. so this is what overdue. i am a fifth generation san franciscan and a fifth the generation or read a resident. i used to have to run under doyle drive to get to the park. let me suggest a couple more things. this would not have been possible without the leadership of gen chapel. the day i was important or reject i was appointed, he was in my office talking about this.

if you could give a day could round of applause to spur and jim. here is the problem. two years ago we were half a billion dollars short in funding. we had some bad to plant, and are not the work being done. i think the final eir was done in 2008 of the did not have the money. it was because -- and this is never acknowledged, and it deserves to be. especially now with the governor supporting my opponent, i do not need to promote him, but you have to support his appointee -- i get it. governor schwarzenegger deserves an extraordinary amount of credit. because of dale and his leadership -- susan kennedy on his staff. this was not always on the top of the list. you were sending money down

south. at the last minute, the bricks were put on by susan, the governor, and with you, we directed $405 million through the shop program. so thank you to you and to the governor for stepping in. we would simply not be here had it not been for your extra effort. he is our friend and our partner. he is always there. thank you for your stewardship and leadership. finally, it was speaker pelosi. it was dianne feinstein. it was barbara boxer that brought us over the edge. guys, this is a legitimate stimulus project. this is a legitimate shot already project that would not have taken place a year ahead of schedule. it saved the taxpayers $90 million.

that was for the leadership of speaker policy and president obama. 6200 jobs will be created over the course of this project, direct and indirect. 2600 direct jobs. you're seeing the hard hats and some of those folks. not just pictures. they are here physically with us. their lives have been enhanced because of the stimulus project. it was noted $100 million or more with the tiger grant got us a year ahead of schedule. in 2013 this will be done. what an extraordinary thing. this is right around the corner. this is real time construction and real leadership. thank you, speaker policy. thank you, barbara boxer. thank you, senator feinstein. thank you to jake mgoldrick. we had regional projects related to work on celebrity --

collectively together. he helped organize a from work with the golden gate bridge district and other leaders throughout the region. patching together money, patching together collaboration, patching together those wounds that have opened up in the course of this project. in closing, i think you not only for your introduction but for your stewardship and leadership and constancy. thank you for your faith, love, and devotion. this is one of the things i know you care deeply about. that showed throughout the course of this effort and the course of the work that is being done here. thank you very much. [applause]

>> i remember then that chair jake mcgoldrick saying to the mayor in an early speech that he jogged every morning under those drives. he said, "do not job under the structure. you never know what could happen." [laughter] we get now to the point here where people are too cold and we need to wrap up quickly, but we still have a couple more speakers. let me very quickly acknowledge, as the mayor said, and echoing his words, the incredible work of the people that are actually delivering this project on the ground. most of them do not freeze because they are actually moving around when they are at the construction site. others are moving around and

beating the bushes in other places, particularly finding local and minority-owned, small and disadvantaged businesses. they need to be part of the reality of both the stimulus and the rehabilitation of the entire infrastructure in this country. they are the future. they are the reality today in this project as well. i want to take a quick second to a knowledge paul prendergast and his team, the tremendous job they have done in finding those people and demonstrating that minority-owned businesses are perfectly qualified to add value to a project of this size. we have them right here in san francisco. we do not need to import them from mars. they are prepared to do a good job. we have to connect them to the right people. that is what paul and his team is doing and it deserves

acknowledgement. [applause] there is also, because i will forget later, a big and warm hearted acknowledgement to the rpd joint venture represented here by several people who cannot see now, the engineering firm that has been our right hand in getting this project designed and ready to go. and i want to also acknowledged representatives from the u.s. department of congress -- department of commerce minority development agency who are here today. and of course the private sector, our most important and valued partner in delivering this project. i think bob is here today. those are the folks that are going to be building the town. there are contractors making a

big impact here not just in building things but in incorporating a real commitment to small and local business participation, and doing an extraordinary job that i believe is going to become a paradigmatic example in the rest of the state, because these numbers are not to be ignored. and of course the small businesses themselves, [unintelligible] now let me take a second to a knowledge the chair of the san francisco transportation authority, my current boss, a man who i think it's well within the lineup of visionaries and people with the big picture. ross has been a member of the board of supervisors since 2004. he is on his first term as chair

of the authority since january. during that time he has given me the opportunity to appreciate just how able he is to comprehend the importance of these projects and these programs from the big picture. i am not just talking about transportation and infrastructure. i am talking about the way these projects relate to the ultimate goals we have at the transportation authority and that we have as a city, with the mayor's leadership, to create a more livable and balanced environment for everyone, where there is room for cars, because we are not activists or extremists, and there is room for bicycles because we are not just focused on the car, and there is room for people to walk because we have to have a pedestrian environment to have a rich cultural environment to live in. and i think he brings to the authority board that vision and that is reflected in the way he leads us. let me take a second now in

asking you to welcome supervisor mirkarimi of the board of supervisors. >> good morning. i am very delighted and proud to be here. i should explain that you might see both the mayor and myself and the president of the board of supervisors grinning. it may be the cold. we are also a little bit giddy because it was early this morning after a 13 hour board meeting that we just put to bed our budget of $6.50 billion. so we are quite delighted about that as well. so it is good to be here with you. [applause] the federal highway administrator, mayor newsom, and president david chiu, i am glad

to address you on the occasion of such an important event in the development of the new presidio parkway. the start of construction of the first major tunnel. as chair of our county transportation authority board, i am delighted to welcome you to san francisco on this fine morning. it is not often that we get to mark the commencement of construction of something this big and this important, so i think it is very fitting that we take time to mark this moment appropriately. i think this tunnel is a perfect allegory. it is as if we are digging our way to a different dimension. in a sense, the entire project will flow through this tunnel, and when we come out the other and we will have succeeded in reshaping the relationship between the roadway and the park. we will have a project that is worthy of its location in the largest urban national park. but that will not be all, because we also have succeeded

in our goal of achieving seismic safety for the traveling public at least a year earlier than originally anticipated. in this day and age, that says a great deal. it is very important to us. we put safety first. we decided that for access to the golden gate bridge from san francisco it is not safe to continue a facility whose federal structural rating was two out of 100. it will not achieve its efficiency rating of 30 after 100 after extensive costly stopgap work on the high volume deck. the new parkway will be a facility for the 21st century, designed for sustainability. this will set a new standard for public works of its kind by recycling every cubic inch of the demolition materials, by fairly treating all water runoff

from the roadway itself, by reducing impact on the spectacular views, and i finally allowing direct access to the presidio for buses, pedestrians, and cyclists in addition to automobiles. that matters a great deal for us. it lies in our constituency of san francisco endeavoring to be america's greenest city. it is the result of a grass- roots movement to find a lasting solution to decades old projects -- all the problems. many local, regional, state, federal agencies, and civic groups improved this. the mayor was correct in recognizing one of my predecessors, supervisor jake mcgolder, as well as my immediate supervisor. to the innovations in the design we have added construction innovations like the oscillator, the largest in the world, that

can sink huge 11 foot piles into the ground without pounding them and avoiding transmitting vibrations to the many historic buildings near the construction site. that was a huge step in securing the approval of the california transportation officials to move the project's second phase. in doing so, the project will spearhead a move in california toward considering the full cycle cost of projects, not just the construction cost but also the maintenance and rehabilitation cost, and responsibly accounting for those over three decades into the future. we will adequately maintain our roads and our transit system. that is what is needed in order to assure the state infrastructure remains in good repair for many years to come. it is fitting that the presidio parkway should be leading the way. i cannot and my remarks without

acknowledging in a curtailed fashion the partnership of the federal government in the process, and particularly the leadership of secretary ray low hood -- ray lahood. they supported this project with generous allocations. i would be remiss if i did not also acknowledge the tremendous partnership that we have with the state, particularly through the good offices of the secretary and his staff. thank you of course speaker of the house nancy pelosi. we look forward to continue a fruitful partnership in the years to come. thank you very much. [applause] >> let me take a second now to acknowledge the president of the san francisco board of supervisors, david chiu, who has

been a member of the board for the last year and a half and has impressed me as someone who cares about transportation despite the fact that he has to be in the trenches, fighting the battles on everything on the budget. our board does not have the luxury of being a single person -- a single purpose board. they have to where construction has at times, but the have to reconcile the priorities of everything else. but that is what makes for a livable city. it is actually a very good thing. i think david dhichiu brings to the table a great commitment to a trend that first city and also an equanimity that allows him to understand that great roadway projects can be designed for a park successfully and that it is one of the needs a very big city would have. join me in welcoming the president of the board of

supervisors. [applause] >> per se i have to ask, can everyone feel your fingers? do we need to do a seven minute stretch? i am going to give the briefest remarks ever. seriously, i want to thank our friends from washington dc. i want to thank our friends from sacramento. i want to think our friends from every sector in the bay area for this tremendous project. in san francisco, we take our project seriously. when it comes to these, we are absolutely united. when it comes to earthquake safety, all of us here came together last june to pass one of the largest bond measures for public safety and the structure. last night, we put on the ballot yet another bond to rebuild our private sector buildings. this project is remarkably important. just in closing, i want to say as a former small business person the impact of this

project not just on jobs, but the impact on our small businesses, particularly our disadvantaged businesses, cannot be underestimated. thank you. the warmup. . b-- be warm. [applause] >> let me acknowledge the new statewide director was not able to join us today, but i want to invite my partner and friend and colleague, the district for caltrans director of safety. he deserves as much credit as anybody else for this project. [applause] >> thank you. i know it is cold. i will try to run through this fast with my frozen brain. good morning and thank you for

being here today as we celebrate the groundbreaking of the second major contract in a world class presidio park for a project. when completed it will achieve seismic safety for this important corridor. phase two of it will make sure that this meets the seismic standards. it will also assure that the national park can have access to the presidio, which is sorely needed. the battery is to our left. that is one of two short tunnels that would connect the highway with the presidio. the top of the tunnel will connect the historic battery to lincoln boulevard and the national cemetery and give access to bicycles that go to the trails behind us. a temporary bypass would be built to allow traffic unimpeded

during construction. the contract is funded entirely by the american recovery and reinvestment act of 2009. it started sooner than expected thanks to governor schwarzenegger's efforts in expediting this and getting it funded. this is getting construction workers back to where they belong, improving our aging transportation infrastructure. from this location, you can see the construction activity this project has created. the structure was built in 1936. the new one will accommodate future transportation needs and improve safety with wider lanes a continued shoulder and a wide landscaped area, and it will separate the traffic for northbound and southbound. this is an exciting time with the department and also the construction industry. the presidio parkway is the

result of the great partnership between the department, the transportation administration, the federal highway administration, the presidio trust, and many other agencies that had to come together with different agendas to be sure this project is built while enhancing the environment. our california highway patrol is well represented. thank you for being here and for keeping our highways safe. thanks for all coming here for this event. the last thing is stay safe while you are driving. thank you very much. [applause] >> i know there is a tremendous risk in these events as the temperature dips. good will can turn into hatred. [laughter]