Folsom Street has one tree left to plant, at 880 Folsom. As of SF Public Works' October 27 update, 32 new trees are in the ground between 2nd and 11th Streets. The benches are done, 15 commemorative plaques are installed, and the roadway has been resurfaced along the whole corridor. Crews are down to punch-list items and final installations on a contract that started in May 2024 and was scheduled for 950 days.
Over those same two and a half years, the bars, cafes and studios between Seventh and Ninth kept bringing people in by staging their own nights out on a torn-up street.
What 2nd to 11th Street Looks Like Now
Folsom still carries cars one way, eastbound. The two-way traffic on the new street belongs to bikes, which now ride a concrete-protected bikeway running from 2nd to 11th. The old street had three eastbound lanes from 11th to 4th and four from 4th to 2nd. The redesign generally leaves two general traffic lanes, with a transit-only lane from 10th Street to just past 4th.
Here is where the main pieces stood as of the October 27 Public Works update:
| Element | Where | Status as of Oct. 27, 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Roadway resurfacing | 2nd to 11th Streets | Complete |
| Street trees | Corridor-wide | 32 planted, one remaining at 880 Folsom |
| Transit boarding islands | 6th to 9th Streets | Complete |
| Transit island railings | Corridor-wide | Nearly complete, remaining work at 3rd Street |
| Bus island shelters | Transit islands | Remaining shelters to be installed by Clear Channel |
| Leather District crosswalks | Near Folsom and Dore | Listed as coming up, Oct. 23–30 work window |
| SoMa Pilipinas crosswalks | Between 5th and 8th Streets | Listed as coming up, Oct. 23–30 work window |
SFMTA's full design for the corridor calls for 21 corner bulb-outs, 15 upgraded or new traffic signals, 16 dedicated bike signals, ten raised crosswalks at the alleys, and eight new or upgraded transit islands. It also adds tree-lined medians, pedestrian-scale lighting and parking meters from 6th to 11th. If you cross midblock, the project's FAQ lists signalized crossings at Folsom and Falmouth and between 5th and 4th Streets.
Read the Median Before You Park
The change drivers will notice most this season is where the signs are. In its October parking and loading notice, SFMTA says curb uses removed during construction are mostly returning to their preconstruction arrangements with minor adjustments, on Folsom and on the side streets from 2nd to 11th. Parking and loading signs now go on the new concrete medians, and street-sweeping signs stay on the sidewalks. The installation window runs from October through the end of the year, and the agency's guidance is to follow the posted signs block by block.
Parking matters more on this stretch than the signage suggests. During construction it was the complaint merchants raised most often.
The Blocks That Threw Their Own Party
According to the Bay Area Reporter, Alex Ludlum, executive director of the SOMA West Community Benefit District, said the street project "makes it hard to park" for potential customers. His answer was SOMA Nights, a monthly evening event built to draw foot traffic back to the legacy businesses on Folsom between Seventh and Ninth Streets.
"Having an event gives people a reason to come to the neighborhood."
Ludlum gave the Bay Area Reporter that line in April, along with a description of the corridor that left little to soften. He called Folsom Street "a disaster construction zone" whose schedule kept changing, and said the 2025 season finale of SOMA Nights took "Construction zone" as its theme. The photo that ran with the story shows people in construction gear dancing at a SOMA Nights event.
The 2026 season ran on fourth Thursdays from April 23 through September, officially from 5 to 9 p.m. Participating businesses invited guests to stay inside until 2 a.m. A Folsom Street entertainment zone, created the year before to support the event, allows outdoor drinking when it is activated for special events.
The money shows how much of this came from the neighborhood itself. In 2025 the series received $60,000 from the Civic Joy Fund. For 2026, the fund told organizers it would not renew. Its executive director, Luke Spray, cited the site's narrow alleys, the fund's Downtown First Thursdays market a few blocks away, and a goal of spreading its night markets across more neighborhoods. The 2026 budget came to $90,000, or $15,000 per event. Of that, $70,000 came from the SOMA West CBD and $20,000 from SF New Deal. Ludlum told the paper that participating businesses saw revenue rise an average of 65% on event nights in 2025.
Who Held the Corridor
The April lineup gives a working map of the businesses that put their names behind the series while the street was still dug up. Their plans for this year's nights, as they described them to the Bay Area Reporter:
- Rocco's Cafe, 1131 Folsom Street. A sponsor of SOMA Nights, and the business that pressed the city hardest over the project's length. Its owner reported sales declines of up to 60%, which he attributed to the streetscape work.
- The Nosh Box, 1116 Folsom Street. Owner Edwin Stoodley planned a DJ plus pastries, food and wine all night.
- Driftwood, 1225 Folsom Street. Owner and manager Chris Milstead lined up DJs from 7 to 10 p.m. and a special cocktail for each event night.
- Decentered Arts, 1175 Folsom Street. Executive director and co-founder Liz Cahill planned a live drawing lounge with tea as a nonalcoholic option.
- Azucar Lounge, 299 Ninth Street. Owner Jonathan Ojinaga ran a Mexican spirits tasting called Selecciones from 7 to 8 p.m. each fourth Thursday, with a rotating DJ.
Decentered Arts shows what kind of tenant this stretch drew during construction. The SF Standard reported that the nonprofit opened its second-floor Decentered Studio at 1175 Folsom in late summer 2025, after losing other venues, and has used it for arts and community events.
1168 Folsom, the Business That Didn't Wait
One storefront on this stretch closed before the new street was finished. Decant SF, a wine bar and bottle shop at 1168 Folsom that opened in 2019, closed on June 20. Its owners told the San Francisco Chronicle that the months of construction in front of the store, and the foot traffic it cost them, decided the matter. The Chronicle describes Decant as a gathering spot for South of Market residents, with frequent classes, five wine clubs and a tinned fish club.
Decant was also on the 2025 SOMA Nights roster. Its closing marks how close the timing was. The street work the Chronicle put at $54 million was meant to make this block easier to walk to, and one of the businesses that would have gained from it left with a few months of construction to go.
Where the Crosswalks Point
The decorative crosswalks on Public Works' late-October schedule go to the two cultural districts that overlap this corridor. The Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District was established by city resolution in 2018 and says it arranged Leather Pride flag-themed decoration on selected Folsom crosswalks. Its crossings sit near Folsom and Dore. SoMa Pilipinas, San Francisco's Filipino Cultural Heritage District, gets crosswalks between 5th and 8th Streets.
The location ties back to the merchants. SOMA Nights runs inside the Leather & LGBTQ Cultural District's footprint, on the blocks the Bay Area Reporter notes were once called the "Miracle Mile." Folsom between Seventh and Ninth is where the new crosswalks, the new medians and the event series all meet.
Howard Street Is Next
Folsom's counterpart is Howard, which carries traffic westbound. Two separate Howard projects are on the calendar:
- Howard Streetscape, 4th to 11th Street. Design is complete and SFMTA is preparing to choose a contractor. An October 2025 update forecast a construction start in late 2026, and the project schedule puts completion in 2029.
- Transbay Howard, 4th Street to The Embarcadero. Construction began in February 2026 and is expected to continue through late 2028.
The Howard work from 4th to 11th runs parallel to the Folsom blocks now in their final weeks of construction, one street over. SFMTA posts updates at SFMTA.com/FolsomHoward, and Public Works sends construction notices through its Folsom Streetscape page.
If you own on or near Folsom and want to know how a rebuilt streetscape, new curb rules and a Howard construction schedule could affect your building's value, Meagan Levitan can go through it with you block by block. Request a Confidential Home Valuation.
