SAN FRANCISCO—On Tuesday, October 1, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) announced plans for a pilot safety enhancement project.
“The Folsom Street pilot project will bring immediate benefits and will help us learn how to more effectively create safe streets in our downtown core where we see a ix of vehicle, pedestrian and bike traffic,” Ed Reisken, SFMTA director of transportation, said in a statement.
The pilot project, which will aim to increase bicycle and pedestrian safety, will enhance Folsom Street between 4th and 11th Streets by a lane reduction from four lanes down to three lanes, according to the release.
“Enhancing our City’s bicycle network ensures greater safety for not only bicyclists, but it helps us create roadways where different modes of transportation can coexist,” Mayor Edwin Lee said in a statement. “The buffered bicycle lane in this pilot will create a safer, less intimidating street while giving us an opportunity to study how measures like these can be implemented in dense and rapidly growing areas of San Franciscoto make our City streets safer,” he added.
The project on Folsom Street originated from possible design options that were identified from previous SoMa community outreach efforts. Tom Nolan, chairman of the SFMTA board of directors, said SoMa has experienced a 98 percent rise in bicycling since 2006, with Folsom Street now the busiest bicycle route.
“With more bicycling on Folsom Street and more people coming to live and work in the SoMa area overall, this project will help us to provide a safer travel experience for all roadway users,” Nolan said in a statement.
The project has an anticipated implementation date of the end of 2013, which “will allow the SFMTA to measure the change in travel volumes along the corridor, diversions of traffic, and right turns on adjacent parallel and cross streets,” according to the release.
“We are pleased to see the City moving forward on safety improvements to Folsom Street,” Leah Shahum, executive director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, said in a statement. “The planned buffered bikeway, pedestrian improvements and traffic calming will certainly make it feel safer and less stressful for the huge numbers of people biking and walking along this key corridor. We hope this is the start of a greater focus on creating safer SoMa streets,” she added.
This pilot project will help with information for the Central Corridor Neighborhood Project Environmental Impact Report, which has a planned completion date of June 2015. For more information on the Environmental Impact Report, visit www.sf-planning.org/index.aspx?page=2557.
By Melissa Simon
