Crews were spotted grinding down old asphalt on the major Sunset corridor at a pace that can only be described as "wait, SF can do that?" Heavy machinery ripped up the surface while traffic in the remaining open lane kept moving surprisingly well. The full repaving — fresh asphalt, rollers, paint — is expected to wrap up over the weekend, with the goal of having lanes back open by Monday.

For a city that treats infrastructure projects like multi-year meditation retreats, this is genuinely refreshing. As one local put it, "Meanwhile Geary has been one lane for months." Fair point. When you see what focused effort and proper equipment can accomplish in a weekend, the glacial pace of other projects around the city starts looking less like an engineering challenge and more like a management failure.

Another SF resident made a plea that's probably shared by every Muni rider in the city: "Can they do Mission next? Mission is so bad it must be a deliberate bus demolition exercise paid for by mechanics." Anyone who's felt their fillings loosen on the 14 bus knows this isn't much of an exaggeration.

Here's the thing — this kind of rapid, efficient infrastructure work should be the norm, not a viral spectacle. Other cities have been running machines that rip up old asphalt and lay new pavement in a single pass, working overnight so roads are open by morning. Florida was doing this twenty years ago.

San Francisco's road conditions are an embarrassment for a city that collects this much tax revenue. We spend roughly $4,500 per capita in city government expenditures — among the highest in the nation — and yet our streets feel like an obstacle course designed to test your car's suspension warranty.

The 19th Ave project proves the city can move fast when it wants to. Taxpayers deserve an explanation for why it so rarely wants to. Every pothole-riddled block in the Sunset, the Mission, and the Richmond is a reminder that the bottleneck isn't capability — it's priorities.