SFBC Announces Golden Wheel Awards...And I Am Surprised, Thrilled, and Honored

The Announcement:

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) announced today the recipients of the organization's Golden Wheel Awards. Streetsblog San Francisco and SFBC volunteer Michael Helquist will be presented with the awards on April 27th during SFBC's annual gala event. The theme for this year's award is "Leaders of Change: Creating Great Streets and a World-Class Bicycling City."

Streetsblog San Francisco is being recognized for its "intelligent journalism that is leading the conversation and helping more people understand the connection between bicycling, great streets and a livable city." Michael Helquist, according to the SFBC announcement, was selected in recognition of his work as "a tireless advocate of smooth pavement whose leadership has propelled our Good Roads Campaign to the next level by influencing City decision makers to enhance bicycling in their work."

My Own Thoughts:

I am deeply honored to be recognized by an organization that I respect, appreciate, and enjoy so much. Volunteering with the SFBC continues to be an opportunity and delight. The coalition is an organization that thrives with the commitment of volunteers -- now numbering 11,000 -- in every facet of its advocacy. I have not experienced any other group that so readily welcomes and encourages volunteers to follow the role that most interests them and fires them up.

I couldn't be more pleased to be in the company of Streetsblog San Francisco, especially editor Bryan Goebel, deputy editor Matthew Roth, and ace reporter Michael Rhodes. Their efforts have vastly strengthened the community in San Francisco that is dedicated to a more livable city for all users of public spaces. Streetsblog is an inspiration and frequently a guide for me as I develop BIKE NOPA as a means to increase awareness and commitment to improving and diversifying the streets, sidewalks, and parks in the North Panhandle neighborhood and beyond.

The SFBC Good Roads campaign seeks to improve safe riding conditions for all bicyclists by ensuring a smooth surface free of potholes, cracks, and other defects. One of the major deterrents to San Franciscans interested in bicycling but hesitant to begin is their sense that the streets are too rough and uneven. The Good Roads crew works to persuade new riders that the surfaces keep getting better all the time. In the last two years, the Good Roads crew has reported more than 1500 potholes to the city, and followed up with the requests until they were repaired. We have formed strong partnerships with the staff at the Department of Public Works and at 311, and the collaboration benefits all of San Francisco.

Special thanks to Neal Patel, SFBC Community Planner and Good Roads Project Director, for his unstinting support and to the dozens of Good Roads volunteers who have devoted so many hours for the safety of so many others. Their good humor, dedication, and friendship have shaped the best volunteer experience I've had.

The Green Bike Box Gets Its White Stencil At Last

On Scott at Oak Streets, 3 pm Dec. 5th

Wiggle into the green box

Proper use of bike box - and in heels too.

The green city truck on the green bike box; maybe a sign would help

This morning the first-in-the-state green bike box on Scott Street at Oak was stenciled with its long-awaited bicyclist icon. Now it's really a green bike box, one that gives cyclists and motorists a visual cue that this space is reserved for bikes at a red light.

With much touting of our green city status, the Mayor and three members of the Board of Supervisors hailed the partial lifting of the bicycle injunction that allowed the bike box to be painted green on December 3rd as reported here. Several officials and bike advocates helped roll the green on Scott Street. A happy parade of cyclists rode up to the box, stopped there for the light, and then continued north on Scott in the new center-of-the-block bike lane.

And then everyone waited for the bike stencil to be added. Without a cyclist painted in the box it was simply a bright green painted spot in the street that might mean something to motorists and cyclists. Or not. The Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) issued little response and no public explanation for the incomplete job thus encouraging talk that traffic engineers were worried about the bike injunction still or concerned that the state had not officially ratified the experimental use of bike boxes. How much easier if the MTA had simply responded as they did today that the engineers chose to conduct a mini observational study of street users to see who did what with the box. (Of course, the previous box was just gray asphalt with white stripes around it AND a white stenciled cyclist in the box, so why the study? Streetsblog, with Michael Rhodes reporting, published the story Monday about the MTA study.

According to the MTA, half of the motorists stopping at the signal rolled into the bike box during four one-hour evening peak periods in December. As for bicyclists, 55% used the box while 30% waited to the side in the crosswalk. With that data, MTA decided to call in the stencil crew.

The bike box would likely work much better for cyclists and motorists if San Francisco followed Portland's example and painted a green lane from the box to the start of the bike lane across Oak Street. And then a few signs to motorists and cyclists would complete the job. But for now it's good to be green with a white cyclist stenciled on top.

SFPD Lt. Lyn Tomioka on her "Non-Criminal Incident" Description of Monday's Serious Pedestrian Injury Near City Hall

Note: This post first appeared on Dec. 22, the day after the pedestrian injury occurred. The following account is a revised version re-posted for those who might have missed it during the holiday rush.

On December 21st the local media reported that SFPD Spokesperson Lt. Lyn Tomioka described a collision near City Hall in which a driver struck and seriously injured a pedestrian as "not a criminal incident." The account in Streetsblog noted that Tomioka made the comment although "the exact location of the crash and the direction of the vehicle and pedestrian were not yet available." To many pedestrians, bicyclists and their advocates, SFPD officers sometimes seem too quick to conclude that motorists are not at fault when events like Monday's collision occur. And on occasion the comments by SFPD representatives appear to justify these beliefs.* The next day Tomioka explained what her characterization does and does not mean.

"When I said this was a non-criminal incident, I meant that the driver did not run a red light and did not leave the scene," Tomioka said. "It was not a hit-and-run and there appeared to be no drugs or alcohol involved." In such situations, SFPD can request voluntary blood draws of drivers to determine alcohol and drug use, according to Tomioka. While she said this particular driver "cooperated with all our requests," she did not specify whether a blood draw occurred.

She added that the description "non-criminal incident" does not necessarily mean that it was no one's fault. However, she indicated that SFPD officers spoke with witnesses Monday who stated that the driver was not at fault. Tomioka was not present when the collision occurred and she did not go to the scene. She emphasized that an investigation of all the factors involved will be undertaken.

"We don't know if the woman (the 54 year old pedestrian) stepped out into the street in the middle of the block" or otherwise endangered herself, Tomioka explained. "But it was a very serious injury that resulted."

Tomioko also spoke of the effect such collisions can have on motorists. "It is also horrible to be the driver who hits an individual under circumstances over which they have no control. In some cases, the one who caused the injury may not be the person at fault."

Tomioka countered the perception that SFPD lacks objectivity when it comes to incidents involving non-motorists. "People often think in a city like San Francisco that the police are biased against pedestrians and bicyclists, but I don't think that is accurate. There may be a few officers who say things they should not in these cases, but I think the general philosophy is there are two parties in an incident and unless we witness the collision we do not assume which one might be at fault. We don't want to say a person jaywalked and was hit and at the same time we don't want to point a finger at the driver."

We asked Tomioka about the common use of the term "accident" for occasions when motorists may not break the law (e.g. run red lights) but drive carelessly and hit, injure, or kill pedestrians and bicyclists as a result. "I think the more appropriate term in California is collision," she replied. "However, when you have someone at the scene who is very upset, you might use the word accident while trying to comfort that person as 'it was an accident, no one intentionally did this.'" She added, "I don't know the appropriate word always, but I don't think people are malicious when they suggest an incident or collision was an accident."

* On two recent occasions SFPD officers appeared to exhibit a rush to judgment (or at least an inappropriate comment) and bias; the first was reported here in BIKE NOPA; the second here by Streetsblog editor Bryan Goebel.

MTA Cites Bike Injunction for Delay on Fell/ARCO Hazard

Photo by Michael Helquist

The Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) has decided to wait until the bicycle injunction is lifted before implementing risk reduction interventions on Fell Street before the ARCO service station. Mike Sallaberry, Associate Traffic Engineer for the MTA, wrote in an email that several of the alternatives under consideration were "deemed undoable" under the court injunction. If the Superior Court lifts the injunction at a scheduled June 2010 hearing, or later, the MTA will then consider the full range of options -- including barriers or soft-hit posts along the bike lane.

The hazards of this stretch of Fell Street have been well-known to the MTA and certainly to bicyclists and pedestrians for a long time. The agency has undertaken thorough studies of the problem,* and one set of recommendations did result in the Fell Street bike lane in 2002. But studies of the traffic hazards at the ARCO station have not resulted in interventions.

Andy Thornley, Program Director for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition responded at some length to this new delay. "We don't know why the SFMTA would be timid about commencing a trial of safe-hit posts as a barrier to vehicles intruding in, and on, the Fell Street bike lane. It really doesn't need any more legal permission to emphasize and reinforce what's already been legislated for over ten years," he wrote in an email.

With a nod to possible concerns that the barriers might pose a liability risk to the city, Thornley countered with the SFBC's view of a far greater risk. "If anything the City's liability exposure is much greater for the ever-more likely prospect of someone being hurt or killed while riding a bike on Fell Street than any challenge to gluing some white plastic sticks on the white bike lane stripes." He concluded with the sentiments also expressed by the great number of cyclists who travel to, through, and from NOPA and use the Fell Street lane. "It's time -- it's long past time -- to defend the bike lane and the thousands of people who travel in the bike lane."

In October of this year, MTA developed a proposal to remove three parking spaces on the south side of Fell to guide motorists into a waiting zone out of the way of traffic and bicyclists. Once that option was introduced in a BIKE NOPA post, NOPA and Alamo Square residents and staff of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition suggested alternatives including removal of more parking spaces to create a buffer zone, enforced waiting for motorists in the traffic lane only, and a bike lane protected by a flexible barrier. At a November 19th meeting of the North Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA), MTA's initial proposal was grouped with the other alternatives for discussion and no specific actions were outlined. At that time, bicycle and livability activists were hoping the bike injunction would be be lifted in early December. Instead, only ten new bicycle lanes were permitted along with new bike parking and several trial proposals. Another hearing was scheduled in June of next year to consider the merits of the case further before, possibly, lifting altogether the injunction that has blocked a full roster of bicycle improvements for more than three years.

San Francisco's first protected bike lane on Market Street between 9th & 10th. Photo by Bryan Goebel

Although the MTA plans to hold off on a protected barrier for Fell Street, the agency is currently experimenting with these same devices on Market Street between 9th and 10th, as reported by Streetsblog here. And, of course, this trial has been implemented under the constraints of the court injunction.

Photo by Bryan Goebel

* For review of the SFMTA studies, see

http://www.sfmta.com/cms/uploadedfiles/dpt/bike/fell%20street%20report%2011_22_04.pdf

http://www.sfmta.com/cms/uploadedfiles/dpt/bike/rewrite%20of%20memo%20for%20website%2011_22_04.pdf

Look What Portland Does with Its Green Bike Box

Part of Portland's marketing campaign for using bike boxes.

photo by ccorlew on flickr

San Francisco wants to become the premiere bicycling city of North America, according to Nathaniel Ford, Executive Director of the city's Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA). But first we have to catch up with Portland, our green city to the north that seems to spin out cutting-edge bike facilities left and right and down the center lane. Take bike boxes, for example.

Earlier this month MTA's Ford joined Mayor Gavin Newsom and three supervisors to tout the city's new green bike box on Scott Street at Oak, as we posted here on December 4th. They even painted it in unison. But there it sits today: it's bright green, it has a purpose, many bicyclists know how to use it, some motorists know to stop behind it when the north-bound traffic signal is red. But something is missing.

Before the press conference and the green paint, there was an asphalt gray bike box at that exact location with a bicyclist icon in it, suggesting its use by, well, bicyclists. (Even that left cyclists and drivers guessing, since no signs were posted with any how-to-use directions). Today there's no bicyclist icon, sharrows, "wait here" message, or anything else.

So take a look at how Portland uses its bike boxes:

photo by itdp on Flickr

photo by Beach650 on Flickr

Better yet, check out this new Streetfilms video. Caution: "bike box envy" may result from one or more viewings of "Bike Box." So, MTA, where's the rest of the bike box?

JFK Drive West: First, the New Curb Cuts

Transverse and JFK Drive

Safer Pedestrian Improvements

How many previous repairs can you count?

What we won't miss

With unidentified "issues" evidently resolved, construction work on John F. Kennedy Drive from Transverse to the Great Highway has really, finally begun. While a contract was granted the first of November with a 60 day work order, not much on-the-street happened until the last several days. But now several curb cuts at intersections and and other stops along the drive are being installed. The road surface repaving can only begin once the curbs are set.

All along Rick Thall, Project Manager for Recreation and Parks Department, has assured us that the full mill-and-fill operation (removing the old pavement and applying new asphalt) for this long stretch of JFK Drive would require about ten days. With a December 31st deadline looming, we remain cautiously hopeful that the New Year will bring an astoundingly smoother and safer ride through the west end of the city's premier park.

Mayor, Mirkarimi, SFMTA & SFBC Paint it Green

It was a bike box love-fest Thursday afternoon as city officials and bicycle advocates gathered around an asphalt gray patch of Scott Street at Oak. A dozen white buckets half-filled with bright green paint lined up with long-handled rollers along the center stripe -- almost as if they were on loan from a Fantasia exhibit at the Presidio's new Walt Disney Museum. The first bicycle box to be painted green in the state of California awaited the swoosh of color from dozens of happy helpers.

Mayor Gavin Newsom extolled the occasion as one of the city's first experiments with bicycle improvements that other cities like Copenhagen, Amsterdam, and, closer to home, Portland have already implemented. "We're going to be trying some things that candidly we wished we were doing for the last three years," the mayor said, reflecting on the prohibition against new bike enhancements due to the long-standing "bike injunction." The judge for that case recently allowed several bike facilities to go forward. Since this past Tuesday, city paint crews have painted hundreds of sharrows and bike icons and new bike lanes on city streets.

District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi biked to the press conference where he joined the Mayor and Supervisors Bevan Dufty and Sophie Maxwell. Mirkarimi noted the significance of the occasion and asserted that "we are all unified in the mission statement of making San Francisco bike friendly." He also announced, "We're going to put on-street bike parking in front of Remy's Mojo Bicycle Cafe" on Divisadero to celebrate the end of the injunction and to help "signifiy what a major arterial like Divisadero means." Later that evening during the Divisadero Art Walk, Remy Nelson, owner of the always busy Mojo, smiled in surprise when he learned of the supervisor's remarks. "He really mentioned my name?"

Mirkarimi suggested that the Wiggle bike route -- of which the new bike box is an essential part -- deserves Historic Trail status similar to the Barbary Coast Trail in the city. The Wiggle follows the route of the long-paved over Sans Souci Creek and today is one of the most-used bike routes in San Francisco.

Although the press conference was festive already, Supervisor Sophie Maxwell got everyone laughing -- and had Supervisor and mayoral candidate Bevan Dufty whooping -- with the conclusion of her remarks about making our streets serve more than vehicles. "We're going to make it exciting, we're going to make it fun, and we're going to make it funky."

Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, could have easily lit up the street herself with glowing enthusiasm. While she thanked the elected officials, the city staff, and SFBC's 11,000 members, Shahum also spoke for the 130,000 San Franciscans who already bike and the more than half of city residents who said they wanted to ride bikes for transportation in the city "if streets had bike lanes and were more inviting for bicycling."

At the conclusion of remarks, everyone was drawn to those paint cans and the Chief Sorcerer and his many apprentices dutifully dipped their poles in the paint and rolled a bright, new green box for bicyclists to stop and wait for the green light to cross Oak Street.

Streetsblog beat all the print, blog, and TV media to the big stories from the press conference -- the green box, the new proposal for bike sharing, and huge increase in number of bikes to be shared. And they posted a video of the full press conference. It hasn't taken long for Streetsblog San Francisco to become essential viewing for anyone interested in more livable streets and sidewalks and transportation policies. The video clip is below and the bike sharing news is here.

First City-Installed Bike Rack in NOPA in More than 3 Years

A tight fit for two bikes to maneuver around and park next to rack.

It's good once you find it.

Just fits.

Choices

The Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) installed a standard, "inverted U" bike rack Monday on Baker Street near Grove, making it the first city-owned bike parking improvement in NOPA for more than three years. The rack is situated on the Baker Street side of the "old building" of the Pacific Primary School. Thank you, MTA!

The MTA announced that it had 750 applications for bike racks throughout the city; the agency has reviewed and processed 60 of these. With much fanfare Monday, the MTA installed a new bike lane on Scott Street between Fell and Oak, added sharrows (bike and arrow graphics indicating shared use of the roadway), and prepped the bike box on Scott at Oak for an official re-painting with Mayor Gavin Newsom presiding (or painting it, perhaps?).*

Like all neighborhoods in the city, the North Panhandle needs bike parking for its hundreds of residents who use bicycles for basic transportation. To its credit Pacific Primary parents and administration erected their own custom-designed bike racks along both the old building and the new building across the street last summer, as reported in BIKE NOPA here.

Every new bike rack helps, so we're hesitant to suggest the location of NOPA's newest one is a bit curious. Both Grove and Baker have especially wide sidewalks and ample space between most street trees. Yet MTA chose the most hard-to-find and confined space for the new rack. Grove Street offers so many better-suited spaces that would also be more in the open and thus more secure. Ease of arrival, parking and secure parking becomes even more important as more teachers, parents, and students bike to school. For now, we're happy to get one more rack.

The Divisadero corridor also received a new rack, this one at 268 close to Little Chihuahua restaraunt; a second is due at 248 but, as of Tuesday afternoon, had not been installed.

* The Mayor's Press Conference is scheduled for 1pm, Thursday, Dec. 3 at the corner of Oak and Scott Streets. During or immediately after the conference, the "bike box" at that intersection will be painted to green to encourage bicyclists to assemble there before crossing Oak -- and to inform motorists that it's a sanctioned bike stop.

Judge Grants Partial Bicycle Injunction Relief

In the future: expect something more like this "bike corral" outside the Main Library or at least the utilitarian inverted U locks where cyclists need them.

Instead of this current option for bike parking found in NOPA and all over the city.

Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch ordered a partial lifting of the three-year old injunction prohibiting bicycle improvements in San Francisco this afternoon. The court order allows the "most easily reversible" projects to be implemented while still holding back the more extensive improvements designed to complete the city's bike network. The limited relief allows the city to implement bike projects for the first time since the injunction was issued in June 2006, a period of 1254 days.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) submitted a list of twelve "most easily reversible" bike enhancements to the court earlier this month. Judge Busch accepted nine of the twelve plus installation of bike racks, painting sharrows (the shared-use chevron-like pavement markings), and other innovative improvements to make bicycling safer in the city.

The nine approved projects include bike lanes on the following streets: Howard, Otis, Scott, Mississippi, Kansas, Clarendon, Clipper, 7th Avenue, and JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park. (The three projects denied by the judge were those intended for Fremont, Kirkham, and the Great Highway).

SFMTA has been anticipating implementation of bike improvements -- while remaining within the limits of the injunction -- and anticipates moving forward with projects as soon as the court permitted them to do so. Bicyclists and livability advocates can expect the first installations within the next week or two, weather permitting.

The most immediate benefit for NOPA bicyclists is the Scott Street Bicycle Lane, Fell street to Oak Street. The project involves the installation of a dedicated, striped bike lane (a Class II bike lane) northbound on Oak between Fell and Oak. Two design options have been under consideration.

According to the SFMTA description of the project, "Option 1 would add a northbound Class II left-turn bicycle lane by removing the left-turn lanes on northbound Scott Street approaching Fell Street and on southbound Scott Street approaching Oak Street." Under Option 1, no parking spaces would be removed.

"Option 2 would add a northbound Class II left-turn lane bicycle lane by narrowing travel lanes and removing approximately three parking spaces from the west side of Scott Street between Fell and Oak Street." SFMTA adds: "the existing left-turn lanes approaching Fell Street and Oak Street would not change under Option 2."

SFMTA staff have presumably decided upon one of the two options, but representatives have yet to announce their choice. (Although a variation of Option 1: removing the left-turn lane and adding two parking spaces is a serious contender). This summer the neighborhood associations for both the North Panhandle (NOPNA) and Alamo Square (ASNA) issued letters of support to bicycle improvements on Scott Street.

San Francisco officials expect a June 1, 2010 start date for a court hearing of the lawsuit that originally resulted in the Bike Plan injunction. Bicyclists and a good many San Franciscans frustrated by the delay in improvements hope the lawsuit will then be dissolved and the injunction lifted.

Leah Shahum, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, commented on the court decision in a press release today. "Interest in bike commuting is surging in San Francisco, and it's really heartening to see so many new people on the streets, despite the three-year absence in improvements," Shahum said. "There's definitely an excitement that San Francisco could become one of America's most bicycle-friendly cities once the injunction is fully lifted."

For a full reading of the court order, see the pdf here, posted on sf.streetsblog.org.

Supervisor Mirkarimi: Concourse Authority and Golden Gate Park Museums Must Step Up to Help Solve Traffic Problems

One option for Sfgo at the DMV site on Fell Street: not as bad as this

photo-shopped version. See below and our apologies to MTA SFgo staff.

Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi told representatives of District 5 neighborhoods that the Golden Gate Concourse Authority, the California Academy of Science, and the deYoung Museum should be sharing responsibility for finding a solution to the traffic congestion caused by overflow crowds and limited garage parking. "They have to help us with alleviation of this problem," Mirkarimi said. "They haven't stepped up yet." He added that the three organizations wanted the city to erect the SFgo signs to alert motorists when the concourse garage is full, but "they don't help with the cost."

Mirkarimi's comments came toward the end of a Monday afternoon meeting held in City Hall with representatives from five neighborhood associations.* The group gathered to review "alternative options" to the unpopular SFgo signs that first appeared on Oak and Fell Streets last August. Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) Traffic Engineer Jack Fleck, SFgo Manager Cheryl Liu, and Assistant Manager Cathal Hennessey presented the different ways of retaining some version of the SFgo program on Fell Street. They proposed moving the current Fell sign further west alongside the Department of Motor Vehicles near Baker Street, and they suggested a more decorative pole rather than the smooth, harsh "freeway style" treatment.

The real differences appeared with the size of the message board and the placement on the pole:

• one option has the board cantilevered over the parking lane and 18 feet high
• the other possibility mounts the board at the center of the pole just 10 feet high

An improvement for both is the reduction in message board size. The previous model -- and the type used in SOMA -- is large enough for four lines of text; the options above permit only two lines and are less intrusive as a result.

The change that no one would likely object to is the decorative design. We previously suggested here that the DMV site would be an unsightly welcome to Panhandle Park. Even with the reduction in size of the message board sign, the location still seems a poor choice. (And the NOPNA Board of Directors oppose having the SFgo sign anywhere on Fell Street). The other pole with the message board would be placed in the middle of the sidewalk. (Good luck getting ADA clearance, and is't it a bit ironic that a Transit First city might block a sidewalk with a traffic pole?) But don't dwell on these options. The third option is the one likely to be adopted on an experimental basis.

A portable sign much like what appears for special traffic situations was proposed for the DMV site. It has the advantage of being less intrusive and can be used as needed, but its visibility may be blocked by vehicles and it requires one parking space. The sign would be configured for wireless operation and to display variable messages. Mirkarimi judged the portable sign as the only one that would work for the situation at hand.

Much of the discussion among the neighborhood reps centered on more creative solutions to the traffic congestion problems. Susan King of Livable City and a Haight resident, Michael Smithwick of Alamo Square, and other neighbors suggested a range of possibilities including a surcharge on Academy and Museum tickets, a prompt to request text messages about available parking when ordering tickets online, and a pre-paid Muni fare attached to each ticket purchased as ways to increase revenues and encourage transit use.

Others pointed out that neither the Academy nor the deYoung encouraged members to use the Culture Bus when it was still operating. Although the Academy website still advises visitors that "parking is located throughout Golden Gate Park and the neighboring areas," online visitors are strongly encouraged to use Muni or the park shuttle. Patrons who walk, bike, or take public transportation are given a $3 discount.

Supervisor Mirkarimi announced that another meeting would be held next month. That gathering, he said, would include representatives from the Concourse Authority and the museums. "They should have been here today," he said, "we will ask them to be here before January."

A few other items:

• Observers have previously commented that placing a SFgo sign on Octavia Street at the exit of the Central Freeway might be more useful and appropriate. The MTA has judged this location too distant from the Concourse destination to capture motorists' attention and suggest it would fail to alert drivers approaching by Gough Street.
• Richmond District representatives declined participating in the meeting because the Concourse traffic and parking problem was not a significant issue for them.
• Craig Dawson stressed how congested Inner Sunset blocks were more and more of the time, not only when the concourse garage is full but whenever JFK Drive closes. While NOPA and Alamo Square deal with motorists who are often speeding on their way to the park, Inner Sunset neighbors cope with drivers traveling at slower speeds endlessly looking for parking and clogging their neighborhood.
• MTA proposes removing the Oak Street SFgo sign and placing it on 19th Avenue near Ortega Street.
• A request to others at the meeting: please do comment and add more details on your very good ideas for dealing with this problem.

* In addition to NOPNA, the other organizations represented at the meeting were the Alamo Square Neighborhood Association, Cole Valley Improvement Association, the Haight Ashbury Neighborhood Council, and the Inner Sunset Neighborhood Association.

Mixed Outcome for Bicycle Blocks in San Francisco's New Paving Plans

Patch paving of mid to lower Market Street earlier this year.

The recently repaved intersection of McAllister and Van Ness.

Part of the Divisadero Corridor makeover and repaving now underway.

The grinding of the old asphalt before the filling with new.

The streets most-used by San Francisco bicyclists fared generally well -- with some serious exceptions -- in the city's slashed Five Year Paving Plan. A combination of the Department of Public Works' commitment to the city's Transit First policy, advocacy by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and the already poor condition of the streets that cyclists share with motorists helped keep many priority bike blocks in the resurfacing schedule.

After City Hall dropped the streets repair bond just before it was to appear on this month's ballot, an overhaul of paving plans was undertaken, often stretching street work from five years to fifteen years or more. The result for all street users is more than wear and tear. What's going on for hundreds of our untended streets is structural damage that will worsen and become increasingly more expensive to repair. In the reconfiguration of the paving schedule, priority bike blocks took a hit, but it could have been much worse.

By Fiscal Year (July 1 to June 30), here's some of the repaving cyclists can expect-- but always with the caveat that the projects are subject to available funds and coordination with utility construction. These aren't all the bike blocks to be repaved, but they are the ones most used.

FY 10-11

Wiggle bike route (two of the roughest surfaces in or near the Wiggle): Steiner between Waller and Duboce; and Sanchez between Duboce and 14th. (Note: the current utility work on these blocks is not part of the eventual repaving).

Bosworth, from Diamond to O'Shaughnessy

Holloway, from Harold to Junipero Serra

Howard, from Stuart to 2nd, and from 3rd to 4th

7th Avenue, from Hugo to Noriega

FY 11-12

2nd Street, from Market to King

17th Street, from Pennsylvania to Potrero; from Bryant to Valencia. (Note: The Potrero to Bryant repaving has been advanced to the current fiscal year)

Cesar Chavez, from Guerrero to Hampshire

Parnassus, from Clayton to 5th

Point Lobos, from 42nd to the Great Highway

FY12-13

Kirkham, from 7th to 12th, Funston to 15th, 19th to 37th, and also from 37th to the Great Highway with a less expensive surface treatment

Columbus, from Union to Beach

Silver, from Bayshore to Palou

And, at long last, Market Street, from Main to South Van Ness

FY 13-14

Eureka, from Market to 23rd Street

Polk, from Bush to Beach

20th Avenue, from Lincoln Way to Pacheco

FY 14-15

Polk, from Market to Bush

17th Street, from Valencia to Ord

Note: A full list of streets to be repaved can be found on the DPW web site here. Select the "Proposed Paving" for the 200 page PDF.

Which paving projects were delayed that might most concern bicyclists?

Folsom, from 6th to 10th, now scheduled for FY 16-17

Arguello, not so bad now but can it wait for repaving until FY 19-20?

Potrero, Alameda to Cesar Chavez, now set for FY 19-20 and FY 20-21

8th Street, Market to Townsend, no paving planned

Folsom is especially important as a major bike route today, but it will likely see even more bike and vehicle traffic in FY 12-13 when Market Street undergoes its major makeover. Repaving Folsom before then becomes even more important.

Resurfacing Folsom is complicated not only by lack of funds. Like all streets in San Francisco, Folsom can only be torn up once every five years. Repaving projects must be coordinated with the construction schedules of the various utilities in the city. As a result, the Five Year Paving Plan becomes an intricate dance of many partners.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition already works with DPW staff to identify priority bike blocks that might be advanced in the paving plan, but the scarcity of funds for the city's infrastructure severely limits the possibilities. Obtaining the financing for essential street repair requires political leadership and public willingness to accept some of the financial burden. For now, bicyclists can appreciate the high percentage of bike blocks scheduled for repaving.

Related information:

In the "2008 Survey of Bicycling in San Francisco," 185 respondents (representing 10% of the total) said they had a serious fall while riding a bicycle in the last two years due to broken or irregular pavement or potholes.

See this recent post for a longer discussion of the withdrawn streets bond measure and the impact of dwindling street repair funds on one San Francisco neighborhood.

NOPA Streets Take Hit from Recession, Lack of Repair Funds

Work on Divisadero Street will proceed on schedule.

Repaving of Baker Street will be delayed 18 months until Spring 2011.

Elections have consequences. So do decisions to keep issues off the ballot. As a result of the tanking economy and political maneuvering, San Francisco voters did not decide last week whether to approve a 30 year, $368 million streets repair bond measure. As a result, plans to keep the condition of our streets, sidewalks, and public stairs from deteriorating even more have been re-calibrated to reflect slashed budgets. Considerable delays in resurfacing the city's prime traffic corridors and neighborhood streets -- sometimes a 10 year postponement -- are the result.

For more than a year city officials refined what they considered a reasonable and necessary request of the voters: approve a bond measure to rescue our streets and sidewalks and public stairs from years of delayed maintenance. The Board of Supervisors approved preliminary versions of the bond and guided it through all the required hoops to put it before the voters earlier this month. And then, with only a few days remaining to meet the deadline for getting the bond on the ballot, city leaders withdrew it. Their reasons were not especially transparent, but insiders cited a mix of differences among the supervisors, resistance from business interests, and perhaps most importantly, voter research that suggested the worsening recession was no time to seek huge capital investments no matter how worthy the project.

North Panhandle residents will share the pain as they find repaving for a few of their streets delayed even longer, as much as seven years. A casual observer on foot, bike, or four wheels might easily travel through NOPA's thirty square blocks and think, "Well, not so bad, these streets." But according to the city's own inspection and ranking of our blocks*, the picture is anything but smooth:

• 24% of our blocks require major repair or reconstruction
• 43% of our blocks need resurfacing before they worsen
• 20% need preventative repairs before the surfaces degrade further
• 13% are fine for now, due mostly to recent re-surfacing

With the first two categories combined, fully two-thirds of our blocks need basic and extensive make-overs. For the status of each NOPA street, check this earlier post.

The specific impact of the reduced funds reflects what other neighborhoods will experience as well to varying degrees. How big a hit for NOPA? Take a look:

• Central Avenue was previously scheduled for resurfacing in 2013; now, 2021. Several of Central's blocks are plagued with recurring sinkholes, and waiting until 2013 seemed much too long -- until now.
• Hayes Street was also set for 2013, but look for relief no sooner than 2025 if the city's streets budget isn't resuscitated before then. Hayes, along with Central, were both rated in the "red zone" of structural and surface defects.
• Baker Street fared somewhat better with only an 18 month delay, from October of this year to a start date of May in 2011.

Fortunately, the long-awaited makeover of Divisadero is secure, and the resurfacing of Broderick will move forward in fiscal year 2012/2013 as planned. Please note these dates are part of the Department of Public Works' Five Year Paving Plan with emphasis on the "plan." All the resurfacing dates are subject to funding availability -- things could get worse -- and other factors.

We'll take a further look at the city's "state of the streets" in upcoming posts. In the meantime, consider this: how would you have voted on the $368 million bond measure? And, yes, there likely would have been a "pass through" clause allowing renters to help absorb the costs.

*DPW inspectors conduct regular assessments of street surface conditions. Each block in the city has been ranked according to a Pavement Condition Index score. San Francisco streets now average a score of 64 on a scale of 1 to 100, a dismal borderline rank that hovers between streets that can just get by with preventative maintenance (filling cracks and seams and fixing potholes) and those that need full resurfacing (new asphalt) or reconstruction (replacing the concrete base). As might be expected, streets that slip into severe disrepair are significantly more expensive to repair. It's a straightforward choice for voters: pay a lot now or pay much more later.

A final note: Critics of the bond measure argued that basic street work should be financed through the city's general fund, not a 30 year bond measure that voters will be paying off even after some of the resurfaced streets have worn out once again. Advocates countered that major street reconstruction is a capital investment that requires sums of money that only a bond measure might provide.

JFK UPDATE: Plan Your New Year's Day Ride Now

Less than sixty days to go and counting for completion of the repaving of JFK Drive. This resurfacing project has been a bit prone to delays in the past, so we checked on its progress. Good news. Rick Thall, Project Manager for the Recreation and Park Department, confirmed that the nearly $1.2 million contract has been awarded and that work began on November 2nd.

Construction crews from Esquivel Grading & Paving will complete curb reconstruction work before the actual resurfacing begins in another week or two, but sixty days -- with December 31 the last day -- is their limit for smoothing off the total job.

Pedestrian improvements with the project will include paving at each intersection and onto the adjoining streets past the crosswalks. Curb ramps and new paint for the crosswalks will follow. Bicyclists will no longer grimace from the current rattling ride, but a dedicated bike lane for JFK remains uncertain.

Thall confirmed that there will be a solid stripe painted outside the parking lane, but the line might not serve the same purpose as it does on the east end of JFK Drive. There the street is so wide that the stripe demarcates what becomes an unofficial bikeway. Thall notes that the west end of JFK is not as wide as the east end and does not have space for bike lanes in both directions.

"I'm working with MTA on this," Thall wrote in an email, "but if we are allowed to fully mark a bike lane, it would be in the west to east direction."

Unless the contractor completes the job early, plan on a huge celebration for the best ride of the New Year. Anyone up for a New Year's Day party in the park?

Further Fixes for Fell Street / ARCO Station Hazard

Two more fixes for the traffic tangle on Fell Street at the ARCO gas station have joined the proposal developed by the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA). All three plans try to ensure safe passage for pedestrians and bicyclists while accommodating motorists who want to gas-up at the ARCO station at Fell and Divisadero.

Michael Smithwick, a long-time Alamo Square resident and livability advocate, envisions keeping motorists in the traffic lane at all times, even while waiting for an open spot in the ARCO lot. He proposes keeping the bicycle lane and sidewalk clear of vehicles by using a sidewalk extensions and four-foot high, flexible lane dividers. His plan involves four elements:

• constructing a bulbout sidewalk extension immediately adjacent to the ARCO station entrance and installing a bike rack
• removing one parking space closest to the ARCO station and replacing it with a bulbout with room enough for a tree and a bench
• placing flexible posts for a distance of about 10 feet on Fell to separate the bike lane from the traffic lane in the area where motorists are most prone to block the bike lane
• installing a sign curbside at the new "bike rack bulbout" to warn drivers not to block either the bike lane or the sidewalk

"This approach would force cars to stay in the traffic lane as they approach the current entrance to the ARCO station rather than "squeezing" over to block the bike lane," Smithwick explained. He expects the "no squeezing" situation will encourage motorists to continue on their way when the wait for gas is backed up rather than endure the discomfort of blocking the lane of traffic.

Smithwick has more up-close experience with the day-to-day realities of Fell Street than most traffic engineers and livability advocates in the city. He's lived on Scott Street near Fell for twenty years and has served as Transportation Committee Chair for the Alamo Square Neighborhood Association (ASNA) the last ten years. He remembers when Fell had four lanes of speeding rush-hour traffic with residents' cars parked on the sidewalk since curbside parking was prohibited. "This was a nightmare for pedestrians, who often had to step out into speeding traffic just to get by," Smithwick recalled. "Finally by partnering with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, the neighbors convinced the MTA to replace the fourth traffic lane on Fell with a buffer of parked cars and a bike lane." The predicted Armageddon somehow never happened, he added, and traffic calmed a bit, bicyclists didn't have to ride on the sidewalks and pedestrians could. When Oak Street residents noticed the positive effects on Fell, they pressured the MTA to implement the same trade of a traffic lane for a parking lane on their street.

Smithwick's proposal challenges the notion that pedestrian and bicyclist safety should remain threatened by a traffic design that offers little direction to motorists who simply want to purchase gas. Critics of his plan might counter that a bike rack is hardly needed where bicyclists have no reason to congregate and that only the truly weary -- or perhaps MTA's bike counters -- would settle on a bench along the noise and pollution along Fell Street. But those are minor points within a larger vision that seeks safe passage for all.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has a different solution in mind. Program Manager Marc Caswell said the SFBC is thinking about bike travel on both Fell and Oak Streets in the short-term and long-term. "We're open to looking at several options, including a bi-directional bike path on Fell between Scott and Broderick that is segregated from vehicle traffic, andwe expect to push on this idea soon," Caswell stated. This proposal becomes even more attractive if the bidirectional path was extended westward along Fell to Baker Street and on to Stanyan. Such an extension would reduce the risks of cyclist and pedestrian congestion on the Panhandle path and allow cyclists to avoid the dangerous Baker to Scott segment of Oak Street.

"There's no reason MTA couldn't be thinking about this option now," Caswell noted. He volunteered, however, that "full (traffic) segregation is not necessarily better." With better traffic design, he suggested, "points of conflict" where motorists might turn across a bike lane can work well without undue risks. Caswell added that the MTA should consider options for a short-term fix without installing impediments to longer-term, more ambitious changes.

The ARCO station is the large lot on the lower left with driveways and

parking spaces being considered in the MTA plan to the right.

James Shaharimi, Bicycle Program Assistant Engineer for MTA, triggered this most recent discussion of the long-time traffic problems on Fell at the ARCO station last month. His proposal was presented in a post here. It involves the removal of three, too-small-to-be-legal parking spaces leading up to the ARCO driveway so that motorists can queue up along the curb and wait for an available gas pump without blocking the bike lane or sidewalk. The MTA would also erect signs to advise motorists to not proceed until there is a space open and to not block the sidewalk.

At first reading it seems that the MTA plan would open space for only three vehicles to wait in line while forcing the fourth, fifth or more motorists to block both the traffic lane and the bike lane mid-block while awaiting their turn. But the three 12 foot parking spaces are interspersed with four driveways, totaling 95 feet of potential open space. The removal of three parking spaces might permit five or six or more vehicles, and it might clear both the traffic and the bike lane of gas-seeking drivers.

Which of these options might Fell Street residents closest to the ARCO station endorse? Depending on final configurations of the plans, each might make it somewhat difficult for them to use their own driveways. But that's not much different from what they encounter already. Valerie Hartwell, another long-time ASNA member and Fell Street resident, explained that she sometimes waits twenty or thirty minutes to drive into or out of her garage due to the ARCO line-up.

No one is served well by the current situation on Fell Street, but the complexity of the problem -- accompanied by a lack of political will -- has allowed the hazards to remain. Perhaps no longer.

Program note: James Shaharimi will present MTA's thoughts on the Fell/ARCO traffic problem at the November North of the Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA) meeting. Neighbors and friends and everyone interested are welcome.

Thursday, November 19th

Poleng Lounge Restaurant, 1751 Fulton, between Central & Masonic

On-street bike parking (the parking meter routine; will there ever be bike racks?)

7pm social; 7:30 meeting

Also on the NOPNA meeting agenda: Cheryl Brinkman of Livable City will discuss bringing Sunday Streets through NOPA in 2010.

No More McAllister Waves

A Smooth Saturday Surprise at McAllister and Van Ness.

Safer for everyone, easier to share the road, and no more liability claims waiting to happen.

Everyone can appreciate the new, smooth pavement of the McAllister Street / Van Ness Avenue intersection, but bicyclists especially will welcome a much safer street crossing. For cyclists who opt out of the slalom down Golden Gate between Broderick and Divisadero for the speed rush downtown, McAllister provides a tamer but direct route into the Civic Center and, with a jag, onto Market Street. Yet McAllister is no smooth sailing, especially at the Franklin and Van Ness intersections.

Cyclists must dodge a large sunken manhole while crossing Franklin Street eastbound and then prepare for what I cursed as the "McAllister Waves" in the Van Ness intersection -- a several foot wide area where the asphalt had been been "pushed" into a series of deep, broad ripples. To stay within the bikeway and avoid motorists and especially the #5 Muni bus behind or alongside them, cyclists had to negotiate the waves without benefit of surfing gear. The jumbled surface made crossing the intersection difficult and dangerous.

Saturday morning the McAllister waves looked more like a smooth, sandy beach. Overnight road crews had re-surfaced all the intersection. (The waves weren' t the only surface defects in the lanes of traffic). Now the crossing is smooth and safer, allowing cyclists to focus on traffic without risking a nasty spill or worse. Thanks Dept. of Public Works road crews! (Now, about that sunken manhole cover at McAllister and Franklin ... ).

It's beyond me why motorists so seldom report the gaping craters that chew their tires and damage alignments or why pedestrians tolerate wide cracks and crumbled surfaces in several of the city's crosswalks and sidewalks. Bicyclists have reported more than 1300 potholes, cracks, and craters to 311 during the last 18 months through the Good Roads program of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. We can all be the city's "eyes on the streets and sidewalks" by turning in potholes or other defects in the roadway through 311, either by phone or online.