[timbad]

the Mayor is working to make sure all relevant parts of the City are engaged in making the opening, and continued access, as smooth as possible

While Golden State Warriors fans fixate on this year’s playoff run, San Francisco Mayor London Breed is looking ahead to next season — the first the NBA team will play in the brand-new Chase Center arena in Mission Bay.

Last week marked the first meeting of a council of more than a dozen city departments that Breed quietly convened to make sure that city infrastructure and operations are ready for the arena’s scheduled September opening, a date that is making some people who live and work in Mission Bay nervous.

The group will meet every other week to provide updates, sort out priorities and set deadlines. The goal is to avoid the balkanization and miscommunication among departments that can complicate projects and cause delays.

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The council comprises representatives from Public Works, the Fire Department, the Department of Building Inspection, the Office of Community Investment and Infrastructure, the city’s Public Utilities Commission and others. The departments have to collaborate to issue permits, complete inspections and finish many other tasks to get Mission Bay ready for the arena’s opening.

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But Breed made clear that a top council priority will be ensuring that the Municipal Transportation Agency, one of the council members, is ready to handle the crush of traffic and transit riders that Chase Center is expected to draw.

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SFMTA has two major projects under way aimed at easing congestion. ...

On Third Street, the agency is building a wider boarding platform for the Muni T-Line between South and 16th streets. The platform is meant to hold 700 people and will enable four two-car trains to load at the same time on each side. As needed, the platform will also allow trains to depart inbound from both sides to connect transit riders to BART, Caltrain and, eventually, the Central Subway.

The SFMTA is also adding red, transit-only lanes on 16th Street to provide east-west connections to downtown and BART. The lanes will run from Third Street to Fillmore Street moving away from the arena and from Bryant to Third toward the stadium.

The 22 Fillmore bus line will continue on 16th to the arena, rather than turning right on Kansas Street as it does now.

On top of that, the Warriors have paid the city to hire 23 parking-control officers who will manage traffic during events.

“We’re making investments to make sure that Muni and BART and mass transit is the best way for people to get” to Chase Center, Maguire said. “The best way to manage congestion is to give people a really good alternative.”