Block of Van Ness to be closed for 3 days starting Friday

Photo: SmithGroup Architects Picutre rendering of the proposed Cathedral Hill Hospital, looking...

A stretch of always-busy Van Ness Avenue will be closed to drivers for 72 hours starting Friday and continuing through the weekend to allow for construction of a pedestrian tunnel for the new California Pacific Medical Center campus.

The street will close just after midnight on Friday morning between Geary Boulevard and Post Street in both directions. It will reopen at 11:59 p.m. Sunday. However, Muni and Golden Gate Transit buses and emergency vehicles will be allowed access, and pedestrians will be permitted to use the sidewalk on one side of the street.

Detours will take drivers around the closure, primarily using recommended routes on Larkin, Franklin and Gough streets. Traffic control officers and flaggers will staff the detours. Parking restrictions will be in effect on Franklin and Gough streets.

The shutdown is the first of three for construction of a tunnel to connect the new hospital and a medical office building that will sit on opposite sides of Van Ness. Closures are also scheduled April 24-26 and Sept. 5-7.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan