SFMTA Approves 2nd Street Protected Bike Lane Redesign, Ponders Car Bans
By Aaron Bialick
Second Street will get raised, protected bike lanes, sidewalk extensions, and Muni boarding islands with a redesign approved yesterday. But SFMTA Board members wonder if car restrictions are needed, too. Image: DPW
The SFMTA Board of Directors yesterday unanimously approved a redesign of Second Street which will remove traffic lanes and add safety upgrades like raised, protected bike lanes and sidewalk extensions. After years of delay, SFMTA Board members and some attendees at the meeting said it may not go far enough, and that the agency should consider car restrictions to prevent private autos from clogging the street.
The redesign [PDF] will remove two of Second Street's four car traffic lanes and bring one of the city's first routes with raised bike lanes protected from motor traffic by curbs and parked cars. Muni boarding islands will also be installed to allow buses to make stops in the traffic lanes and passengers to alight without conflicting with bike traffic.
The approval is "a resounding victory for safer SoMa streets," wrote SF Bicycle Coalition Business and Community Program Manager Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz, in a blog post. The SFBC submitted support letters from nearly 100 residents and a dozen businesses on the street, Cosulich-Schwartz told the SFMTA Board, noting that it's the only north-south bike route in that area of SoMa.
Walk SF's new policy and program manager, Cathy DeLuca, also lauded the plan. In addition to safer crossings (including removal of dangerous double-turn lanes at Harrison Street), and more room for pedestrians, she noted that the protected bike lanes will "make it easier for pedestrians and motorists to navigate" Second, which is "in the heart of such a fast-growing part of our community."
The redesign "will give the residents, employees, local business, and visitors who use Second Street the great street they deserve," Davi Lang, an aide for D6 Supervisor Jane Kim, told the SFMTA Board.
DeLuca noted that the plan for Second is the first street redesign to come out as part of the citywide Green Connections plan.
Second's redesign has been delayed for years. Most recently, completion was pushed back a year from its previous schedule, to fall of 2017, apparently due to delays in completing the environmental review. Before that, the year-long construction was scheduled to be finished by the end of this year.
The plan was upgraded from a much less ambitious proposal originally included in the 2009 SF Bike Plan, which would have only added painted bike lanes in the door zone. The planning process was re-thought when the original project was apparently forgotten after a communication breakdown between the SFMTA and Department of Public Works, which led the redesign. In the community design workshops that followed, starting in 2012, protected bike lanes and pedestrian safety upgrades emerged as the top priorities for neighbors.
A painted "safety zone" at Second Street and South Park. Photo: Nicole Schnedier, Walk SF/Twitter
The SFMTA has already made some near-term upgrades this year such as painted safety zones, continental crosswalks, and green-backed sharrows.
The goal of the more ambitious redesign, city planners say, is to dissuade drivers from using Second as a shortcut to Highway 80. Once the street has only two car lanes, drivers are expected to adjust and stick to the designated nearby freeway routes: the wide, one-way streets like Third, Fourth, Harrison, and Howard that dominate SoMa.
Several taxi drivers at the hearing complained that they wouldn't be exempted from the bans on left turns and on right turns at red lights, which are intended to make intersections safer to cross and keep Muni buses moving.
SFMTA Board members, including Malcolm Heinicke, the SFMTA Board's most vocal proponent of getting private cars off of Market Street, said the redesign may not go far enough to keep cars from blocking buses and crosswalks on Second. It's "too in the middle," said Heinicke, who suggested banning private autos while still allowing taxis. City planners said car restrictions could be considered after the redesign is implemented.
Second Street neighbor Patrick Valentino also said the plan could go farther. "It's okay to have a street that isn't friendly to cars," he said.
Filed Under: Bicycling, Bike Lanes, Pedestrian Infrastructure, Pedestrian Safety, SoMa, Traffic Calming, GJEL
Protected Bike Lanes, Ped Safety Upgrades Proposed for Second Street
By Aaron Bialick	| Sep 21, 2012
Second Street could get protected bike lanes, sidewalk extensions, lane reductions, greening and more under options presented to residents last night by the SF Department of Public Works and the Municipal Transportation Agency. Of the four options presented, one would include one-way protected bike lanes (or "cycle tracks"), and another would include a two-way protected […]
Yielding to Cars-First Merchants, SFMTA Board Approves Polk Plan As Is
By Aaron Bialick	| Mar 4, 2015
The SFMTA Board of Directors voted unanimously yesterday to approve the watered-down plan to redesign Polk Street with a protected bike lane along one side of the street for 10 of 20 blocks. The board rebuffed efforts by member Cheryl Brinkman to preserve the possibility of adding protected bike lanes along the upper half of the corridor […]
Parking-Protected Bike Lanes, Ped Safety Upgrades Coming to Division at 9th
By Aaron Bialick	| Jun 19, 2015
Bike lanes on the block of Division Street between 9th and 10th Streets will get some much-needed protection this fall. Earlier this week the SFMTA Board of Directors approved a design that will put people on bikes between the curb and parked cars. The massive 9th and Division intersection will also get safety improvements like large painted curb […]
Planners Refine Ped Upgrades, Protected Bike Lane Designs for Second Street
By Aaron Bialick	| Nov 29, 2012
The developing plan to overhaul Second Street with protected bike lanes and pedestrian safety upgrades took another step forward yesterday when staff from the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, the Department of Public Works, and the Planning Department presented more refined design options to the public. Under the proposal, the entire one-mile length of Second Street would be […]
Protected Bike Lanes, Ped Safety Top Priorities for Second Street Neighbors
By Aaron Bialick	| May 4, 2012
Safe bike lanes and pedestrian crossings should be top priorities in the redesign of Second Street. That was the major sentiment at a community meeting on Wednesday, where city staffers rebooting the faltered Second Street Improvement Project asked attendees how they would re-envision the corridor. The residents who attended worked in small groups. Of the 12 […]
Parking-Protected Bike Lane Coming to West End of Bay Street
By Aaron Bialick	| Dec 17, 2013
A new type of bike lane design for San Francisco, and perhaps the whole country, is coming to a four-block stretch of Bay Street in the Marina next fall. The street is set to be redesigned with a road diet [PDF] that includes a parking-protected bike lane on one side of the street, with a […]