SAN FRANCISCO—On Thursday, April 11, Mayor Edwin Lee announced the San Francisco Pedestrian Strategy which is aimed to increase mobility through walking for residents throughout the city and to ensure the safety of pedestrians in neighborhoods as well. The Pedestrian Strategy will focus on ways to reduce serious or fatal injuries by 25 percent in 2016 and by 50 percent in 2021, as indicated in a press release from the mayor’s website.
“The Pedestrian Strategy outlines specific actions to cement our commitment to safer, more walkable streets for everyone who walks around our beautiful City,” said Mayor Lee. “If we can prevent an accident from happening, we must. Everyone is a pedestrian at some point, and their safety is our highest priority.
Mayor Lee has teamed up with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) to develop the strategy that will help prevent accident, injuries and fatalities. Key actions of the strategy will include:
- Upgrading 44 miles of streets where injuries are most concentrated, 5 miles per year through 2021;
- Giving pedestrians extra crossing time at 800 intersections citywide, at least 160 annually;
- Improving safety around schools and senior centers with high pedestrian injury ;
- Upgrading 13,000 curb ramps in the next 10 years; and
- Targeting police enforcement efforts on the City’s most hazardous corridors and intersections.
“We applaud the Mayor’s leadership in releasing this plan to fix five miles of streets per year to make walking safer for everyone. This is needed to reduce injuries and invest in thriving, walkable neighborhoods. We are eager to see wider sidewalks, calmer traffic, more trees, and better crossings for Walk to Work Day and every day,” said Elizabeth Stamp, Executive Director of Walk San Francisco.
For the next two years, the strategy will be funded by the voter-passed Road Resurfacing and Street Safety (RRSS) Bond Proceeds, which is a General Obligation bond that places pedestrian safety adjustments along with streets, bike and transit improvements.
To read the Pedestrian Strategy, go to: sfmayor.org/pedestrianstrategy.
By LaDale Anderson
