Proponents of the South Basin Bridge project, whose phase-one environmental review is on the supervisors' agenda this week, say the bridge will be critical to Phase II at the demilitarized shipyard, ensuring that up to 10,000 jobs can be created in a 500-acre area known as Parcel D. According to a report submitted to the Board of Supervisors, the U.S. Navy is expected to transfer Hunters Point to San Francisco during the first half of 2003.

Overall funding for the South Basin Bridge has not yet been secured. The initial federal grant of roughly $9.4 million, to be paired with San Francisco redevelopment funds of a little more than $2.3 million, must be accepted no later than next fall or the funds would be lost. The U.S. Congress, under the Federal Transportation Equity Act, awarded the grant in 1998 for the 21st Century.

The supervisors' Budget Analyst Harvey Rose, recommended that the board place the requested funding on reserve until more detail is provided about which consultant would carry out the environmental impact report and how much it would cost. Current estimates range from as little as $2.6 million to $15 million, with the most likely figure somewhere in the middle.