San Francisco is moving to tear out the Portsmouth Square pedestrian bridge, the concrete "China Banks" that rises over Kearny Street, as part of the long-delayed redesign of Chinatown’s tiny public square. The move will erase one of the city’s most famous skate spots and swap a shadow-casting span for open park space used by neighborhood elders and families.
According to SFGATE, the Recreation and Park Department says bids are now being accepted for the Portsmouth Square improvement project and that the bridge will be dismantled early in construction, with demolition slated for next summer or fall. In an emailed statement, Rec & Park spokesperson Tamara Barak Aparton said removing the span will deliver "safer pathways, clearer sightlines, flexible community space, and culturally rooted design" that residents asked for.
A global skate landmark
The span opened to the public in 1971, and its steep, slanted concrete walls became a magnet for skateboarders after urethane wheels made the banks rideable, the San Francisco Chronicle reports. Nicknamed "China Banks," the bridge has been immortalized in skate videos and magazines and even appeared on a Thrasher cover, turning it into a touchstone of street skating worldwide.
Why residents want it gone
Neighbors and seniors say the bridge cuts valuable sunlight and seating out of Chinatown’s living room, and a 2017–18 Rec & Park outreach effort found that 77% of Chinatown respondents supported removing the span, according to SFGATE. The redesign process has also been expensive and slow: consultants and studies totaled nearly $2 million by 2020, KQED reported, a fact that frustrates proponents who want usable park space sooner rather than later. Hoodline has followed the project for years, from early public-art plans to later demolition votes.
Budget, schedule and demolition logistics
City project pages list the Portsmouth Square improvement as an active Public Works effort that calls for a 240-foot removal of the Kearny Street span as part of an overall $71 million budget, according to the San Francisco Public Works project page. Bids last year topped estimates, prompting a rebid after the lowest of three proposals came in roughly $10 million over the city’s numbers, which pushed back starts and forced a scope review, Construction Owners found. That disconnect helps explain why some outlets report demolition as early as next year, while the city's project page currently shows a later "Start Spring, 2027" date.
Ownership and who pays
A key sticking point remains who will pay to dismantle a bridge that the hotel across Kearny helped build. The Hilton’s owners continue to hold the encroachment permit for the span, and the permit can be revoked, which would require the hotel to remove the structure within 30 days, the San Francisco Chronicle reported. City officials say they are negotiating with the hotel over a $4–5 million demolition estimate and working to limit traffic impacts while crews dismantle the span.
For skateboarders, the loss will be felt as the neighborhood gains sunlight and room to gather, and the name "China Banks" is likely to outlive the concrete. Bids, final contracts and the outcome of talks with the hotel will determine the exact timetable, but city officials say the bridge removal is slated to happen early in construction once contracts are awarded.
