awarded the contract after submitting the low bid of $5,243,355 (equivalent to $ in ) and construction began in May 1950. The final cost was some $7.3 million (equivalent to $ in ). Completion was originally projected for May 1952, but unanticipated loose rock meant that shoring was required. The tunnel opened to traffic on December 21, 1952. Mayor Elmer Robinson cut a ceremonial ribbon to mark the occasion. Dedication and later years The Broadway Tunnel was named in honor of Robert C. Levy (1921–1985) in January 1986. Levy was the city engineer and superintendent of building inspection for the City and County of San Francisco. A plaque outside the tunnel reads, "He devoted his life to high standards of professionalism in engineering and to the City which he loved." Design The east portal is just east of the Mason Street overpass. The west portal is just east of the Hyde Street overpass. Combined with these two overpasses, the tunnel provides for uninterrupted traffic flow along Broadway for a stretch of six blocks, between Powell on the east and Larkin on the west. There are two bores, each carrying two lanes of one-way traffic. The northern tunnel carries westbound traffic, and the southern tunnel carries eastbound traffic. Each tunnel is long. The vertical clearance throughout much of the tunnel is nearly , but there is an overhanging concrete slab at the eastern end, which reduces vertical clearance to . There are narrow sidewalks on the outboard side of each tunnel (e.g., the north side of the westbound tunnel). Bicyclists tend to use the sidewalk, but signal lights triggered by an inductive loop were installed in 2011 to alert motorists to the presence of bicycles in the tunnel. Public art and architecture A stylized dragon relief sculpture by Patti Bowler, rendered in bronze, has been mounted above the eastern portal of the tunnel since 1969. The building atop the eastern portal is the Chinatown Public Health Center (), a public health clinic operated by the San Francisco Department of Public Health. It was built in the 1970s and remodeled in 2010. In 2008, the artist Moose, sponsored by a company, executed a mural by cleaning dirt from the side of the approach to the western portal of the tunnel using pressure washing and cardboard stencils, a technique known as reverse graffiti. In popular media The Broadway Tunnel has been used as