The last surviving tree on Valencia Street at Mission Playground will be taken down this evening, another victim of the park’s renovation.
Until it comes down and its branches and trunk are taken away, Valencia will be closed to traffic between 19th and 20th streets.
With bikers, skaters and pedestrians moving easily along the corridor, much of Valencia north and south of the park felt on Monday evening as it does during Sunday streets, when it is blocked to autos.
Traffic has been redirected since earlier this morning, when the first ficus fell, ending its life and damaging a Ford Focus parked nearby.
Meghan Tiernan, project manager for the renovation, said the problem was that the tree’s roots were growing along the edge of the sidewalk, not behind it to the west, which would have given the tree a more balanced grip. With the workers cutting along the the sidewalk, the tree started to lean.
Tiernan said at 6:30 p.m. that work to remove the tree would begin as soon as the workers arrived.
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