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.

Safe Passage: Keeping the Bike Lane Open Through Construction

Polk from Bush to Pine

Flickr photo: geekstinkbreath

Here's a street scene we really like: a sewer project that keeps the bike lane open during construction, especially since the work is on a much-used north-south bike route like Polk Street. This block between Bush and Pine might easily have blocked the bike lane altogether; instead the Public Utilities Commission, or its contractor, has closed the street to all but bicyclists while the work proceeds outside the bikeway.

San Francisco streets need a lot of work above and below ground with sewer line reconstruction, concrete base renovation, and basic surface repaving. In our compact urban space any street construction can leave bicyclists -- and sometimes motorists -- scrambling to safely get from Point A to Point B along their usual routes or find detours.

The city's Blue Book of regulations governing street construction is being revised, partly to include new requirements that are more responsive to the needs of bicyclists. The recent difficulties during the Valencia Street upgrade are a good example of what can go wrong: bikeways can be left exposed to trenches, strewn with debris, diverted without notice, and be blocked altogether. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is working with the Department of Public Works and the Municipal Transportation Agency to add new safety measures and better enforce those that exist.

East End, West End: DPW Gets Sunday Streets Route Smooth; SFBC Good Roads Reports The Hazards

Persistent sinkhole filled for now on Grove Street near Lyon

DPW road crews repaired the hazards two days after SFBC filed 311 request

Block of Steiner just south of Geary had a dozen nicely spaced deep gaps

A hard-edged 30 ft long pavement drop previously here along newly-turfed Kimbell Playground

No one wants Sunday Streets walkers and bikers twisting ankles or bike wheels while out having a good time Sunday, September 19th. The SF Bike Coalition's Good Roads volunteers zeroed in on Western Addition blocks that will host thousands of San Franciscans, found the potholes and cracks, "turned 'em in" to 311, and DPW road crews did the rest. Sinkholes filled (for now) on Grove Street in the North Panhandle, a nasty series of deep gashes on Steiner just south of Geary smoothed over, and an odd-but-dangerous drop from one pavement level to another 30 feet along the Kimbell Playground on Steiner no longer a threat to walkers and bikers. Welcome to the Western Addition, Sunday Streets!

NOPA 38% UNDERGROUND(ED)

First posted in August 2009 and republished now as NOPA residents take a closer look at our streets and public spaces.

Is your NOPA street undergrounded?

Undergrounded, as in the utility lines on your street have been buried and the utility poles and overhead wires are gone. If you live on a street without the wires and poles, you tend to take the clear, unentangled views for granted after a bit -- until you walk a block and see what streets look like with them.

Utility undergrounding is a good-times venture. When the economy thrives, the city can afford to be expansive in its beautification measures. In May (of 2009) the Board of Supervisors considered adding undergrounding to a streets repair bond measure. But the prospects for the added expense were not good, and the idea was dropped. In a few weeks, so was the bond measure. Telephone surveys among likely voters put a damper on the prospects at the polls.

The cost to underground one mile in the city is approximately $6.7 million in 2009 dollars, according to the Department of Public Works. Of San Francisco's 1278 roadway miles, 470 have been undergrounded to date.

How does NOPA fare with undergrounding? We're doing well enough, especially compared to many other neighborhoods. Of NOPA's 71 blocks*, 27 are already undegrounded. That's 38% of the total.

Which NOPA streets are clear of the poles and wires? All the perimeters: Fell, Masonic, Turk, and Divisadero. And one more street: Golden Gate. Anyone know why and when Golden Gate received the special treatment? Perhaps when it served as a feeder for Central Freeway traffic.

District Five has the second highest number of curb miles undergrounded in the city: 59% of its 67 miles. District 3 is at the top with 70%, while Districts 11 sits at only 1% and District 10 at 12%. There's a whopping big need for some geographic equity when the economy improves.

The Curious Divisadero Islands: DPW Explains the Design and MTA Questions Their Usefulness

At Turk Street the median juts into the crosswalk

The curious case of the Divisadero pedestrian islands has been resolved. The odd placement of the several islands meant to give a mid-point refuge to people crossing the street is not so peculiar after all, according to the city's design team. Each of the Divisadero crosswalks was designed to meet the different conditions of the particular intersection. But a few of the islands, or "raised pedestrian refuges," do not work well and often fail to provide safe passage to people crossing the street.

Christine Falvey, spokesperson for the Department of Public Works, provided BIKE NOPA with the explanation from the interdepartmental design team (including DPW and the Municipal Transportation Agency) for the recent makeover of Divisadero from Waller to Geary Streets.

"Thumbnails and pass-throughs were designed consistently. Medians were to end at the property line, start a five foot wide pass through, then have the raised thumbnail. The apparent variations out there are actually due to the width of the crosswalks, which vary according to the width of the sidewalk leading up to them. In some cases, the crosswalk was not striped the exact width of the sidewalk which gives the impression of another variation of thumbnail design where there is not."

A little complicated? Consider this: if the Hayes Street sidewalk is several feet wider than the Grove Street sidewalk, then the crosswalk crossing Divisadero at Hayes will also be several feet wider than the crosswalk at Grove. Since the islands begin five feet from the end of the median for each intersection, the Hayes island will appear to be floating in the middle of the crosswalk while the Grove island will be closer to the outer line of the crossing. The fact that the city chose to not always follow the width of the sidewalk, of course, makes it more confusing or from the team's perspective, appears more variable that it is.

The intent of this inquiry into the Divisadero island design has never been a "gotcha" attempt to catch traffic engineers making mistakes. On May 4th BIKE NOPA guest contributor, Jeff Gibson, first described the variations at several intersections.* While he found them odd, his concern was for the safety of pedestrians, especially people with mobility limitations, who would likely find their passage either blocked by the islands or too limited by the five- foot width of the pass-throughs.

Motorists block Divisadero crosswalk -- and the pass-through -- way too often

In one ten-minute period, the crosswalk was blocked four times;

An advance stop line could be very helpful here

Gibson's observation especially holds for the situation at Fell Street, as seen in the photos. Drivers at this intersection often intrude into the crosswalk and block the pass-through when they stop at the signal. People crossing the street must walk around the vehicle and step onto the island, if they are able, to proceed. Anyone in a wheelchair or whose difficulty accessing the islands must get around the island and be exposed to the westbound traffic, including motorists making left turns onto Divisadero. The five-foot wide pass-throughs between the end of the median and the start of the island are the standard width. They were designed specifically for people in wheelchairs and those with strollers as well as for pedestrians. At several Divisadero intersections they fail to serve their purpose well. Jeff Gibson appreciates the explanation from the city, but he still thinks "most of the thumbnails on Divisadero are so poorly placed that they act like barriers."

Mike Sallaberry, traffic engineer for the MTA, told BIKE NOPA that one outcome of this discussion and the difficulty placing thumbnails along Divisadero was a reconsideration of whether thumbnails were worth it. "Maybe we don't need them at all," he concluded.

*****

* When BIKE NOPA published a follow-up article in late May, it seemed odd that no one from DPW had responded to Gibson's inquiries -- or our own -- for so many weeks. We were left to wonder about the seeming lack of response and transparancy. As it turns out, the explanatory memo that Falvey passed on to us was written on May 17th. All the parties involved thought someone else had forwarded the message to Gibson and to me. These things happen.

Why One Block of Baker Street Was Just Repaved (When Other Blocks Seem to Need It More)

Paint crews finished the stencils on Fell Street earlier on Tuesday and then came to Baker

A smooth walk or ride up to Golden Gate will greet Sunday Streeters in September

Bicyclists: new smooth and clearly painted bike lane but, as always, beware the door zone

How much difference do smooth, well-maintained streets make? NOPA residents can walk, bike or drive on Baker Street between Golden Gate and McAllister for a reminder of what more of our streets could be like with sufficient funding for street maintenance. Last week the Department of Public Works gave the block a "mill and fill" renewal (replacing the asphalt) and smoothed the new surface. Tuesday this week the paint crews added the bike lane stencils and stripes, and Wednesday a crew laid new thermoplastic road treatment marking the four crosswalks at the Golden Gate and McAllister intersections. The complete treatment for one smooth and sleek block.

As much as NOPA neighbors appreciate the newly paved block, more than a few were surprised that the city selected that particular stretch when Baker just south of McAllister seems to be in much worse condition and other blocks in the neighborhood also need a makeover. Here's some background on how blocks become candidates for repaving, gleaned from working with the staff of the Department of Public Works as a volunteer with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition:

• each block in the city has been inspected and given a score for the condition of its surface
• blocks with the lowest scores need reconstructive work to address severe cracking and sinking problems that have damaged the base
• other blocks are targeted for spot repairs (potholes and cracks) to extend the life of the surface or for new asphalt for a smooth surface when the roadway is too worn
• with so many streets in the city requiring reconstruction, repaving or maintenance, DPW gives priority to those that serve transit and bicycles as part of the city's Transit First policy (a great many transit and bike streets are also thoroughfares for motorists so everyone benefits)
• DPW also factors "geographic equity" into their plans so all neighborhoods see improvements
• the city mandates that city streets cannot be torn up more than every five years; once reconstruction or paving is planned, all utility work needs to be completed prior to the project moving forward (consider all the public and private utilities in the city and you can imagine the logistics challenge for scheduling)
• In addition, some individual blocks are repaved by DPW crews while a long ribbon of blocks usually gets contracted to construction firms through a process of notices, bids, and approvals.

Back to the question: why this block of Baker? The full street from Fell to Turk needs repaving with the exception of Fell to Hayes which was more recently smoothed over. Each of those blocks need sewer repairs -- the likely cause of the sinkholes -- while sewer work was already completed from McAllister to Golden Gate. Short answer: that block was a candidate, didn't require more underground utility work, and DPW crews could repave it themselves. The rest of Baker will be repaved once the sewer work is completed. Current projections indicate a May 2011 start date for the repaving.

New Divisadero With Inconsistent Crosswalk Design: Does SF Need "Great Crosswalks" Standards?

When motorists intrude into crosswalk: Divisadero and Fell Streets

BIKE NOPA note: Reader Jeff Gibson has conducted an impressive analysis of the new crosswalk designs along the Divisadero corridor. He focused on the pedestrian "refuges" or islands meant to give individuals a safe haven in the middle of wide streets. He is especially concerned that crosswalks like the east-west crossing at Divisadero and Fell actually remove full crossing space from pedestrians and that walkers often have to scramble around vehicles to walk through the designated passage. Individuals using wheelchairs or who have difficulty with curbs might find this situation more hazardous than before. Jeff agreed to share his review with BIKE NOPA readers. The descriptions and photos that follow are from his email message.

*****

I've photographed each crosswalk on Divisadero from Haight to Geary. I can't discern the guidelines under which these crosswalks were designed. There are a variety of configurations so it's obvious no single standard was applied -- not a bad thing necessarily but the logic for some of these designs escapes me. Below are a series of photos with my comments.

photo #1: looking East across Divisadero at Fell, from the SW corner

This prompted my initial query to Kris Opbroek @ DPW (Great Streets Program manager for the Divisadero improvements). I asked why the pedestrian pass-thru at the median was less than half the width of the crosswalk. Her response was that this was a safety feature to protect peds from left turning traffic (from Fell onto southbound Divisadero).

*****

photo #2: one block South, looking West across Divisadero at Oak from the NE corner

Here we have the exact same situation as at the Fell / Divisadero intersection: a one way street with cars in the left lane able to turn left onto Divisadero. Yet this crosswalk has no thumbnail and peds have the full width of the crosswalk from curb to curb. Why the inconsistency?

*****

photo #3: Divisadero at Oak (same intersection as #2), looking East from the SW corner

There is a thumbnail here where one wouldn't expect it, at least in the context of safety issues expressed by Kris Opbroek. Traffic on Oak is one way heading East, so there is no possibility of left turning traffic from Oak onto southbound Divisidero (the only scenario in which a thumbnail would come into play). Was this thumbnail supposed to be placed in the north crosswalk at this same intersection? (see photo # 2).

*****

photo #4: Again one block further South, looking East across Divisadero @ Page, from the SW corner

Here we have what I call a "floating" thumbnail. Is there some sort of design criteria that says a pedestrian pass-through must be no wider than 5 or 6 feet? (I actually did not measure, but they all looked to be the same width no matter the placement / configuration). Why could this thumbnail not be placed at the left margin of the crosswalk? Indeed, if these thumbnails are supposed to be a barrier against car traffic I don't see the wisdom of having half the available crosswalk space between the thumbnail and moving traffic.

*****

photo #5: looking East across Divisadero at Turk, from the SW corner

Here the thumbnail extends a bit outside of where the left crosswalk line will be painted, but the median somehow gets pulled to the left to extend into the pass-through. Why? As I said before, it seems the designers operated under the idea that pass-throughs can only be X number of feet wide and not an inch more. Another example of this can also be seen in photo #3. Very curious.

The examples above represent only a few of the intersections from Haight to Geary. Most to me have design quirks that have me wondering what the planners were thinking. Thumbnails, for example, appear in a variety of positions in various crosswalks, and the crosswalks at Fulton and O'Farrell are narrower than the rest. Given that every square inch of the final design was thoroughly considered, I wonder why the crosswalks turned out the way they did. There are of course far more egregious examples of poor pedestrian design throughout the city, but with the inclusion of Great Streets principles in this particular project, I would have expected better. Perhaps we need to ensure that "Great Crosswalks" criteria are integral parts of Great Streets.

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.

DPW Advances Paving Plans for Steiner/Sanchez Bike Blocks to June

A bumpy ride over temporary trench fill on Steiner Street

The Department of Public Works (DPW) will repave ahead of schedule several blocks of the Wiggle bicycle route due to the poor surface conditions following recent utility construction. Steiner Street north of Duboce to Waller Street will be resurfaced curb-to-curb in June of this year rather than August. The blocks are an essential segment of the Wiggle east-west bike route. As part of the same work order, DPW will apply new asphalt, also curb-to-curb, to Sanchez Street south of Duboce to 14th.

The decision to expedite the paving follows complaints from several cyclists about the especially bumpy surface left by a contractor working for the Water Department along the south side of the streets. The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) requested a speedier response to the problem, and DPW decided it would be less costly to resurface the blocks completely in June rather than make a temporary, partial fix now only to tear up the street again for a full make-over in August as scheduled.

The blocks just north and south of Duboce have been a problem for cyclists for at least the last two years. As reported here, DPW recently repaved the north side of Steiner from Duboce to Herman because of even-worse conditions following winter rains and construction on the block. The south bound lanes of the affected blocks now have a badly-resurfaced utility trench that was meant to be temporary. DPW hoped to wait until August to remedy the situation, especially with the department's tight budge for street repairs. As a result of DPW's re-assessment of the street conditions and SFBC's advocacy, cyclists will soon have a safer route.

Wiggle and Waller Set for Surface Relief

Resurfacing underway on McAllister Street last year

NOPA cyclists get around town a lot, and any time they find a newly resurfaced street it's pure bliss. "If only more streets could be like this," is a common wish, a mix of appreciation and wistfulness. Even as the city struggles to find new revenue for badly needed street repair, a scaled-back schedule of repaving brings some bright prospects. A recent request for construction bids from the Department of Public Works identifies three popular cycling streets for the surface makeovers they deserve. Later this summer biyclists can anticipate much smoother spinning along these routes:

• Waller Street, from Stanyan to Buena Vista
• Sanchez, from 17th Street to Duboce
• Steiner, from Duboce to Waller

Just a block of the Waller project is part of a bike route, but cyclists use this full stretch in the Haight all the time. The Sanchez work will give a huge boost to safer, easier biking in the Castro and Duboce Park areas, especially the block before Duboce which has long resembled grinding over a washboard. And the three small blocks of Steiner from Duboce to Waller deserve a celebration all their own when their much-repaired, rough surfaces get the smooth treatment. Blocks of the Wiggle bike route are included in both the Sanchez and Steiner projects.

The Department of Public Works continues to work with the SF Bicycle Coalition to prioritize bike route blocks for repaving when possible, and these additions to the schedule are a few of the benefits of that cooperation. Something to look forward to this summer.

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.