San Francisco officials broke ground on a $20 million streetscape project Wednesday morning that will transform Second Street between King and Market streets into a safer corridor for pedestrians and bicyclists.

Second Street is part of The City’s high-injury corridor network where 70 percent of collisions occur on 12 percent of the city’s streets, according to officials.

The transformation of the street will include wider sidewalks between Harrison and Townsend streets, ADA-accessible curb ramps and new trash receptacles, bike racks, benches and pedestrian lighting.

Crews will also install high-visibility crosswalks, upgrading traffic signals, installing sidewalk bulb outs, bus boarding islands and raised bikeways, according to San Francisco Public Works.

Upgrades to the sewer system, repaving the street and undergrounding overhead utility wires, are also part of the Second Street Improvement Project.

Director of Public Works Mohammed Nuru said by the completion of the project:

“We will have upgraded sewers thanks our to San Francisco PUC. We will have a smoother roadway, and most importantly, a safer and more attractive neighborhood.”

Mayor Ed Lee said the recent water main that broke near Second and Harrison streets on Tuesday was a reminder of the sewer’s aging infrastructure and how badly the water pipes are need of replacement.

Lee added construction will be done in four phases over the next two years to mitigate impacts to the neighborhood, like San Francisco Giants fans heading to AT&T Park, or going to a concert:

“There will be an effort to mitigate all of this by breaking it up in segments so that it doesn’t interrupt everybody who wants to get to the Giants game or also the next concert.”

Supervisor Jane Kim, who represents the South of Market area, said the neighborhood had always been a residential neighborhood, but largely a commercial, production, manufacturing area:

“The people in the neighborhood changed, but our streets didn’t.”

Kim added:

“Second Street was really the corridor that we had intended to be our neighborhood corridor — one that our residents could bike down safely, walk down safely.”

Director of Transportation Ed Reiskin for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said Second Street plays an important role in the transportation network because the street connects to the ballpark, to Market Street, and that the street attracts a lot of people on foot because of new residents and businesses.

Reiskin said though that the street is known as one of the most dangerous corridors in The City and that the project is a “Vision Zero effort” to reduce traffic deaths by 2024:

“By redesigning streets such as this one that host to a disproportionate amount of these collisions, this is how we’re going to get to zero.”

The project is funded by One Bay Area Grants, federal funds, South of Market development impact fees and local Proposition K sales tax revenue.