DPW's New Bike Port Makes Biking to Work Even Better

A better place to park for employees and visitors

DPW amps up its support of alternative transportation with new bike port

Christopher McDaniels, chief of DPW's street repair bureau and a bicyclist

Just in time for the rainy season, the Department of Public Works (DPW) boasts a new bike shelter and parking station at its street operations yard on Cesar Chavez. Christened a "bike port" by Deputy Director of Operations Mohammed Nuru, the elevated, wood-frame structure was completed in time for the department's health fair a few weeks ago.

Chris McDaniels, Superintendent of the Bureau of Street & Sewer Repair, pointed out some of the features of the station after a monthly meeting of his operations crew and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's Good Roads Campaign. He said the department was testing a gritty floor and ramp surface for durability and safety for cyclists using the port. Staff may also re-stripe the immediate area to draw more attention to the port. Kudos to DPW for selecting the inverted-U design for its seven new racks instead of the difficult-to-use spiral type installed at several facilities in the city. For this visitor, the new port offers a decidedly feel-good experience for biking to meetings.

Two related notes:

The performance of DPW's road crews -- some of whom bike to work or bike during off-hours -- is impressive, as noted in the recently released in DPW's 2009/2010 Annual Report (pdf document, see page 14). Staff responded to 15,000 roadway defects, resurfaced 133 street blocks, and patch paved 290,000 square feet of street surfaces.

An alert to city road users: the rainy season is a great time to report potholes, wide cracks, sinkholes and other surface defects. DPW's road crews shift to more street repair and less resurfacing during the winter. It's easy to report a problem to 311 by phone, online, and on Twitter. Be as specific as possible with location of the defect: street name, cross street, traffic direction, and, best of all, a nearby address. But most of all, report them for everyone's safety.

Panhandle Monument to President McKinley Clean Again

McKinley Monument with graffiti

Photos by Dale Danley

Once again the McKinley Monument in Panhandle Park has been cleared of graffiti. There's no artistry to these tags, just tired scrawls of defacement. Dale Danley reported the vandalism to 311 two weeks ago. Today Dale happened upon the contractor hired by the San Francisco Arts Commission to clean the monument. The fellow said he had done this same work several times over the last six years. "Where I come from the penalty for doing this is three years hard time." If there's a next time perhaps someone will get a photo of the taggers and report them, three years hard time or not.

She Knows Danger When She Sees It: SFBC's "Turn 'Em In" Saga Surges

Last week's heroic entry

She knows her street hazards!

San Francisco bicyclists know what to do when they see nasty, dangerous potholes, cracks, and trenches in the bikeways: TURN 'EM IN . Call 311, tell the operator the hole is a hazard for cyclists, and that you're reporting it as part of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's campaign. Provide an address or intersection where the defect is located. It's as simple as that. One call and you can make city streets safer for yourself and everyone else.

For the month of April, SFBC is encouraging all members and all other cyclists to Turn Em 'In as part of a springtime campaign for safer cycling. Everyone is getting in on the action. The SFBC staff and board have committed to reporting potholes on their daily commutes, the Good Roads monthly riders are doing their part, Streetsblog is buzzed about the campaign, and 311 ops are busy taking the calls.

This morning I turned another one in. Actually there were three holes with chunks of pavement missing on Golden Gate Avenue just east of Divisadero. The grand slalom ride down the hill from Broderick isn't my usual route -- the more moderate McAllister grade works just fine for me, thanks* -- but I know several cyclists who swoosh all the way to Franklin with the momentum they get from this slope.

Decide today to stop dodging the same potholes. Turn 'Em In. Call 311.

* Cyclists take care: Today there's a wide utility trench across McAllister at Divisadero. A big wide cut in that recently laid smooth asphalt expanse. This isn't supposed to happen, and we've contacted DPW about it. 2pm Update: DPW Public Affairs advised that the trench is a corrective measure that the department required of the contractor. It's unfortunate, but it happens. The trench will be repaved tomorrow.

"There's A Giant Hole in the Street": SF Bike Coalition Launches "Turn 'Em In" Campaign

Click to enlarge

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition believes cyclists are buzzed about too many cool events this year to tolerate bikeways that are pitted, cracked, bumpy and dangerous. Sunday Streets, new bike lanes, bike corrals, parklets, bike sharrows, protected lanes on Market Street -- it's all happening or expected in a few months. No one wants nasty potholes to ruin the fun, so today SFBC launched a month-long campaign to challenge all 11,500 of its members to "Turn 'Em In."

In today's announcement, SFBC urged cyclists to "be their own hero of the bike lane":

"Is there a pothole you pass every day on your bike ride in to work? Do you dodge a rough spot in the road every trip to the grocery store? The time is now to pull over, get out your phone, and call 311 to report that hazard using the "SFBC" tag."

To inspire all cyclists, SFBC partnered with Family Style artists Jonas Madden-Connor and Francois Vigneault "to show just how easy it is for you to get the smooth ride you deserve." Every Tuesday morning a new installation will appear on the SFBC Good Roads Campaign website and several other sites (including BIKE NOPA). Be sure to check back to find out: "What will happen to our bicycling heroine? Will the hero be able to save her bike lane?"

Email Neal at SFBC if you have any questions, and join the superhero action by reporting the hazards to 311 now. Don't forget to say that "SFBC" sent you!

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.

Steiner Street on the Wiggle NOW Safer

Seth Fischer is all for a smoother, safer Steiner Street on his commute

Surprise for cyclists turning northbound on Steiner from Duboce

One smooth 1/2 block; the southbound lane still needs work

This is why SFBC Good Roads Campaign blew the whistle on unsafe surface

Seth Fischer knows a smooth surface and that's what he got Thursday morning for his regular Wiggle spin from Duboce and northbound on Steiner. This stretch between Duboce and Herman has been one eyesore and hazard for some time. The Department of Public Works (DPW) has filled hole upon hole here in the past, but after the rains and especially the SFPUC/Water Department's construction on the south side of the street, only one option remained. Grind it out and add new smooth asphalt.

Neal Patel, Community Planner for the SF Bicycle Coalition, might have been the first to fully appreciate the change in the surface. Last night his ride on Steiner brought one huge smile from the just-completed paving. Just last week he was on the block with DPW reps urging quick action for the street defects. "As soon as the rain stopped enough for them to get out there, work crews took care of the problem," Patel said, "and they did a great job."

So, cyclists, enjoy the northbound lane, and here's the story on the bumpy utility trench work on Steiner southbound from Waller to Duboce. SFBC is also pushing for this work to be either re-applied or smoothed out by some other means as soon as possible. DPW managers are working with SFPUC to address the problem. Normally if utility work involves a cut that is 25% or longer of the given block, the full length of the block from curb to mid-point needs to be repaved. In this case, the city allowed a waiver since these blocks are due to be re-paved curb-to-curb after August 1st of this year. Budgets are tight, and SFBC volunteers* report just the real hazards to the city, not the regular inconveniences of the road. Given the huge amount of bicycle traffic that the Wiggle gets everyday, a wait of seven months or more seemed unwise for either the cyclists or the city's liability status.

This morning I also walked the block of Sanchez south of Duboce. Cyclists know how bad this block has been as well. A neighbor and homeowner from that block stopped by to chat -- and complain about the terrible street surface SFPUC left in its wake once they believed construction was done. After he heard about SFBC's efforts to get these streets smoothed, he smiled and said, "It's great to work on these problems as a community together; I really appreciate that the bike coalition is working on this." He also said he was going to get his neighbors to call 311 requesting a better pavement job.

*Full disclosure: Along with several other volunteers, I am a member of the SFBC Good Roads Crew.

Pothole Injury Slows BIKE NOPA Posts

Another pothole-related bicycle injury

Since BIKE NOPA started in late June of last year, there have been almost daily posts. This last week my pace has slowed due to a bicycle injury. Last Saturday morning I hit a pothole and lost my grip while biking on Mississippi Street. (The hole was one of those smooth dips in the pavement, a not readily noticed depression). I fell and in the process fractured my right elbow. I'm fortunate that it is a simple break, likely to heal in a few weeks. But I'm also right-handed and that makes writing difficult. My orthopedist advises fifteen minutes at the keyboard followed by long breaks. I'm learning to write faster.

A bit of irony about my pothole-induced injury: it occurred while I was riding with other cyclists who volunteer with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's Good Roads Campaign. For the last two years a group of us has undertaken monthly "pothole patrols" throughout the city to identify and report the many cracks, holes, utility cuts, and sunken manholes that appear on bike routes. To date, we've reported more than 1,300 of these surface defects. But new potholes appear and the temporary repairs wear away. Biking in San Francisco is safer and smoother as a result of the Good Roads work -- and the usually quick repairs by the Dept. of Public Works -- but too many hazards remain and too many injuries and liabilities are the result of insufficient funding for our streets. Cyclists and pedestrians are the most vulnerable users of our roads, and their safety must become a higher priority, even in difficult economic times. You can help increase safety for everyone -- pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorists -- by reporting potholes to 311 by phone or online at www.sfgov.org. And be ready to support later this year the best proposals to finance safer streets.

For the next ten days or so, my fifteen minute stints at the keyboard will limit me to a BIKE NOPA post every other day. This week and next look for news of NOPA's new bicycling group, a feature on the Buddhist Bicycle Pilgrimage, updates on the Fell Street/ARCO traffic mess and those still-standing SFgo freeway-style signs, and a call to pledge "Pedestrians First."

A special thanks to the Good Roads crew who helped me through last week, the SFBC staff for all their support, friends and neighbors for good cheer, elephant-shaped cookies, walnut applesauce bread, cherries, grapes, cake and ice-cream. See you on the streets -- not soon enough for me.

Use 311 for NOPA Potholes

Even on NOPA's relatively smooth streets, potholes keep appearing. It's not that these holes, dips, and rough spots never get fixed. Wear and tear -- especially on Muni lines -- take their toll. And NOPA's lurking, dropping sinkholes suck in the temporary asphalt repairs.

The worst streets in NOPA for potholes and other street defects? Divisadero certainly, and its makeover can't begin soon enough. Masonic has its share of hazards, and lower Central, from Fulton to Hayes, is all about recurring sinkholes. For bicyclists, the McAllister ride through NOPA is rough and bumpy even without gaping craters. (For a full review of pavement conditions in NOPA, see previous posts here and here).

The best way to get rid of potholes is to report them to 311, by phone or online. The Dept. of Public Works has a good record of getting the problems fixed within a few days, sometimes longer. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition's Good Roads program has been monitoring city streets intensively for potholes since April of 2008. During that period, SFBCers have reported more than 1500 potholes to the city through 311. About 50 of those street defects were located on NOPA streets. And yet they keep showing up, such as this one circled in spray paint yesterday on Broderick at Grove. (Note: DPW provides the paint; we're not renegade street taggers. The paint helps DPW locate the hole and it also alerts cyclists of areas to avoid until the fix occurs).

NOPA cyclists: Join the SFBC Good Roads Crew the first Saturday of every month as we target a different neighborhood to identify, circle, and report every pothole, crack, ridge, and sunken utility cover we can find. A group of 6-12 of us meet up at 10 am and conclude by noon and then gather at a neighborhood spot for cold drinks and lunch. We're a very friendly group, and newcomers are always welcome. Check the SFBC Chain of Events and the Good Roads page for meeting spots. (note: no ride this holiday weekend; next ride October 3rd).