The BikeStation in Washington D.C., which provides parking and services for bicyclists who use transit. (Photo: U.S. DOT)

The FTA's new rules, released for public comment on Friday, replace the previous definition of the so-called "structural envelope" surrounding a transit station.

In the past, regulators had tended to use 1,500 feet as the distance which "most people can be expected to safely and conveniently walk to use the transit service." But the Obama administration, stating plainly that the current radius is "too short," has proposed expanding it to a half-mile for pedestrian improvements and three miles for bicycle projects.

In its explanation of the new proposal, the FTA wrote:

The most successful and useful public transportation systems have safe and convenient pedestrian access and provide comfortable waiting areas, all of which encourage greater use. ...

Distances beyond the walkshed of public transportation stops and stations may in fact be within the range of a short bicycle trip. Providing secure parking and other amenities for bicycles and cyclists at public transportation stops or stations can be less expensive than providing parking for automobiles.

The proposed regulation also codifies a U.S. DOT definition of "livability" that Streetsblog Capitol Hill took note of when it was first mentioned by Transportation Secretary LaHood: "If people don't want an automobile, they don't have to have one."

Public comments on the FTA's proposal can be filed here.

A typical greenstreet facility in Portland, Oregon. This one compines a stormwater treatment facility with a bulbout to reduce pedestrian crossing distances. Photos: Portland BES.

Portland's greenstreet facilities often take up multiple on-street parking stalls and replace the asphalt with beds planted in native species that help absorb significant volumes of streetlevel wastewater, near 100 percent in some locations. Facilities include swales, curb extensions, planters, and infiltration basins, and are typically linear and pool 6 to 9 inches deep [PDF].

David Elkin, a Landscape Architect working for Portland's Bureau of Environmental Services (BES), explained on the tour that the first experiments with greenstreet facilities in Portland were necessitated because the city had to meet mandates in a Clean Water Act lawsuit for polluting the Willamette River, which flows through Portland. The city faced the challenge of increasing the number drainage pipes in east Portland, at a cost of $150 million, or develop another solution for reducing "upstream" water volumes, those that came from surface streets. By adding the greenstreet facility network, which initially cost $11 million, the city met its target stormwater capture and estimated that it saved $60 million in pipe replacement costs.

"We can talk about all the multiple benefits that greenstreet facilities provide, but the bottom line is it saves taxpayers dollars," said Elkin, noting that the first on-street facility was installed in 2002. "Instead of just a patch or trench in somebody's street, we're going to leave behind a green, vegetated facility."

The holy trinity of intersection design: a combination of greenstreet facility, painted bicycle lane and bike box, and pedestrian bulbout.

Elkin described the extensive outreach the BES conducted in conjunction with the city's Department of Transportation (DOT) to explain the benefits of the system to Portland residents. He said a particular sticking point was the removal of parking spaces--some facilities required removing up to five spaces. When the engineers talked vaguely about the importance of reducing upstream volumes, they met with relatively little interest from the public, according to Elkin. When they spoke about cleaning up the Willamette and protecting the water supply, they received resounding support, including several ballot measures re-affirming the public's trust in the initiative.

The coordination between city agencies was so thorough, when the DOT reviewed its program for Safe Routes for School treatments, it asked BES to determine where it could match stormwater facilities and pool resources to reduce the costs of doing both. Elkin explained that the two agencies routinely build five facilities together each year.

Mike Faha, co-leader of the CNU tour and Principal of Greenworks, P.C., said, "Only in the last few years have public agencies locally figured out they have the responsibility to [treat stormwater run-off] for public right of ways--obviously that's a good source of pollution out there with vehicular traffic. The public sector has come to the plate and they're starting to adopt greenstreet standards."

Faha admitted they had made mistakes in planning earlier facilities ("There are stormwater facilities that are sitting high and dry because the inflow was not designed properly"), but that the city was willing to admit those mistakes and improve upon them.

Understanding pedestrian access and safety and coordination with bicycle infrastructure were two of their current priorities. "We've gone through an evolution in our thinking - how do you not create conflicts with vehicles, how do you plant it in such a way that it doesn't block vision from vehicles [at] crosswalks. The big issues are pedestrian safety, maintenance, and the types of plants you use."

As though on cue, a planner from Ohio asked Faha and Elkin if they only used native plants, what he described as unsophisticated and "country," which brought loud protest from a Portlander who volunteered with a local planting group to be sure the city used as many natives as possible (a first-ever New-Urbanism brawl between the plant people was narrowly averted).

Faha conceded that these issues tended to draw some of the most vehement concern from the public, though it was clear to all participants that our two guides relished the fact that these minor qualms were the worst of it. Said Faha: "We're figuring it out and I think the city of Portland has some pretty good design standards for greenstreet facilities."

This facility treats the cascade that used to come off Mt. Tabor during a strong storm. It also rationalized a difficult intersection and shortened pedestrian crossing distance by more than 50 feet.

This facility combines pedestrian, bicycle and stormwater facilities, with a unique twist. This is one of the first advance bicycle stop bars in Portland, where cyclists (lower right of picture) yield when pedestrians are present, but then move forward to the stop bar to gain a view of perpendicular traffic.

Before the greenstreet treatment, this was an asphalt parking lot that routinely flooded.

Images: SFCTA

Charleton said the data collected will put San Francisco in the forefront of modeling in the U.S. "One of our hopes is that this helps put some data behind new infrastructure going forward," said Charleton. "If we see in the data lots of people bicycling on streets without facilities it will help us identify what streets cyclists are using and we can look at the characteristics of those streets to understand why people are biking there instead of somewhere else."

Users of the application can enter as much or as little demographic information as they prefer, though the TA would obviously prefer as much detail as they can get. After the user finishes a ride and saves the data, the information is stored anonymously on the TA's servers and compiled with the extensive data they have on car and transit trips. In theory, the program can also be used to enhance pedestrian modeling.

"San Francisco hasn't done a much better job than any other city or county in America for measuring bicycle movement and patterns," said San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) Program Director Andy Thornley. "Until now, what we've had for data collection is one or two times a year standing at 32 intersections and counting cyclists. It's going to be a huge jump forward."

Thornley had several reservations about the application, however, cautioned that the technology divide of cyclists who have advanced phones could lead skewed data. "One concern is that it might be over-reporting affluent folks with tech backgrounds and missing old folks like me who don’t have iPhones." He also suggested that refined data wouldn't change the situation for cyclists on the street overnight. "These will not be blue lanes on the streets, you will not be in Copenhagen."

Despite these limitations, Charleton said the bar is pretty low on bicycle data, so the improvement to their model will be considerable and will have important ramifications for refinements to the Bicycle Plan and its subsequent iterations. Development of the application was funded by a Caltrans State Planning and Research Grant. Each person who downloads the application and uses it at least once will be automatically entered into a drawing for one of four $50 iTunes gift cards. The Authority is coordinating with cycling groups throughout the Bay Area in an effort to promote use of the application.

"Everyone knows the city is a couple years behind and a lot of people want to do something to help," said Charleton. "This is a way that people out there on bicycles can be part of the solution. For the future, this data is going to be useful for prioritizing new projects that aren't in the works yet."

Leaving aside his reservations about the program, many of which he assumed the TA would factor into their models, Thornley was upbeat about the potential for user-generated data to help improve the city's plans for cycling.

"In the bicycle community, there is an impulse by a lot of people who ride bikes that they want to make it better and they want to raise the acceptance of bicycling as a transportation mode," he said. "People are aware that bicycling isn't recognized and this is a way to help be recognized."

Cycle Tracks can be downloaded for free at the iTunes Store or directly on iPhones, and it will be regularly updated as users provide feedback. 

Photo: richardmasoner

Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition Executive Director Corrine Winter echoed Beasley's concern, though she was also clear to point out that the new leadership at the DOT was very encouraging. "We're very happy with the vision of what's going to happen," said Winter, who said that between the Mayor, Councilmember Liccardo, and Larsen, all the important players are talking the talk. "How does the vision turn to reality-- that comes down to dollars."  Winter also noted that among 447 staff at the DOT, only two work full-time on cycling, a fact she argued would have to change.

"If the city really wants to see this project come to reality, they need to have more people [working on it]," she said.

San Fernando Bikeway and 4th Street Cycle Track

John Brazil of San Jose DOT's Bicycle and Pedestrian Program said the two biggest priorities for his department in moving forward with the bicycle plan are to make cycling in San Jose safe and convenient, so that it would be as commonplace to see throngs of cyclists commuting to work in his city as it is in Portland, Oregon or other cycling hotspots. Brazil noted that despite a large budget deficit, bike plan improvements will be built out, should the plan be adopted.

In addition to working with the Valley Transportation Authority on a trial bike-share program, Brazil said two projects in particular would capture the public's attention over the next two years. The first is the San Fernando bikeway, a painted, buffered bicycle lane from Diridon Station a mile and a half to downtown destinations, such as San Jose State University. Because Caltrans doesn't currently recognize colored bicycle lanes, however, Brazil said the city has to complete a rigorous experimental pilot process with the agency to convince it that adding paint will fit within its street engineering guidelines. Funding for the project will come from a mix of internal budget apportioning and external grants.

The second project of note is a bi-directional, physically separated cycle track on 4th Street from St. James Street to San Carlos Street, intersecting the San Fernando colored lane and linking up Japantown and destinations north with the downtown core. The DOT intends to remove a lane of vehicular traffic to make room for the cycle track, move the parking lane off the curb, and run the cycle track curbside. Numerous technical difficulties still need to be worked out, particularly the challenge of minimizing turning conflicts at the intersections where bi-directional bicycle traffic would create signal and visibility issues. Brazil estimated that this project would take 1-2 years to clear Caltrans experimental process designation, but hoped San Jose's example, if successful, would make it easier for other cities to follow the lead with the innovation.

2020 Plan Objectives

• Bikeway Network - Complete 500 miles of the Bikeway Network
• Mode Share - Achieve 5% of all trips taken by Bike
  
• Safety - Reduce bike collision rate by 50 percent
  
• Parking - Add 5000 bike parking spaces
  
• Validation - Achieve Gold-level Bicycle Friendly Community status from LAB

• Bikeway Network – Complete 25 miles of new bikeways each year
• Mode Share – Increase bike mode share by 1% from baseline every two years 
• Safety – Reduce bike collision rate by 5% from baseline each year 
• Parking – Install 500 new bike parking spaces each year 
• Validation – Achieve Silver-level Bicycle Friendly Community status by 2013 and Gold-level by 2020.
  

Flickr photo: Thomas Hawk

At a hearing on lifting the three-year-old injunction on Monday, a judge instructed the City Attorney's office to produce a declaration of the city's plans for immediate bicycle network improvements once the injunction is lifted. Rob Anderson and Mary Miles have challenged the adequacy of the city's Bike Plan EIR, and Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch is still pondering whether to let the city begin work on the bike network before a hearing sometime next spring. Based on Judge Busch's line of questioning Monday, reversibility could be key to his ruling on lifting the injunction before then.

Miles argued on Monday that the city would complete many of the planned bike improvements before then, and should be stopped from installing any bike lanes in the meantime. The document released today suggests that the city would complete only a third of the projects in the Bike Plan within the first year, and any of those projects would be reversible in the unlikely event that Busch finds the EIR inadequate.

Perhaps even more interesting for cyclists, however, are the details of the city's plans. According to the declaration, which is comprised of testimony from Bike Plan Acting Implementation Manager Damon Curtis, an MTA traffic engineer, the city can paint bike lanes on about one-and-a-half miles of street per month, on average. At most, the city could paint about 30 percent of the 20 miles of bike lanes approved by the MTA Board this summer before March 2010.

According to Curtis, the city can also paint approximately 20 sharrows per day, and can install about 5 bike racks per day. The city also plans to implement a bike sharing program and experiment with colored bicycle lanes and innovative design treatments once the injunction is lifted, the declaration said.

Any of these changes would be "completely reversible," Curtis wrote, which may make Judge Busch look more favorably on lifting the injunction before a 2010 hearing on the EIR.

The implementation schedule isn't set in stone, Curtis wrote, and is dependent upon five major factors: safety considerations, funding, coordination with DPW paving schedules, connectivity and importance to the bicycle network, and weather. Installing bike lanes or sharrows requires two rain-free days before they can be painted, though removing existing paint can be done under wet weather conditions.

On November 12, both parties must produce short briefs on whether they believe the court would have the legal authority to reverse any new bike infrastructure installed before the EIR hearing, if it finds the EIR is inadequate (which is seemingly unlikely.) Once Busch reviews today's declaration and the November 12 filings, he could make a decision on whether the lift the injunction before the lengthy EIR hearing process is complete.

Below is a complete list of the projects the MTA is prioritizing within the first year after the injunction is lifted, according to the declaration filed today.

Bike lane projects the city is prioritizing for the first year after the injunction is lifted:

• Beale Street southbound bicycle lane, Bryant Street to Folsom Street (Project 2-5)
• Howard Street westbound bicycle lane at 9th Street (Project 2-8)
• Scott Street, northbound left turn bicycle lane, Fell Street to Oak Street (Project 3-5)
• Illinois Street bicycle lanes from 16th Street to Cargo Way (Project 4-3)
• Mississippi Street bicycle lanes, 16th Street to Mariposa Street (Project 4-5)
• Kansas Street bicycle lanes, 23rd Street to 26th Street (Project 5-8)
• Clipper Street bicycle lanes from Douglass Street to Portola Drive (Project 6-2)
• Laguna Honda Boulevard bicycle lanes from Clarendon to Woodside Avenue, and from Portola Drive to Woodside Avenue (Projects 6-3 and 6-4)
• Portola Drive Bicycle Lanes, from Corbett Avenue to O'Shaughnessy Boulevard (Project 6-5)
• 7th Avenue bicycle lanes and sharrows from Lawton Street to Lincoln Way (Project 7-2)
• Kirkham Street bicycle lanes, 6th Avenue to The Great Highway (with sharrows only between 18th and 20th Avenues) (Project 7-5)
• John F. Kennedy Drive bicycle lanes, Kezar Drive to Transverse Drive (Project 7-4)
• North Point Street bicycle lanes, The Embarcadero to Van Ness Avenue (Project 1-3)
• Fremont Street southbound bicycle lane, Folsom Street to Harrison Street (Project 2-7)
• Otis Street westbound bicycle lane, Gough Street to South Van Ness Avenue (Project 2-15)
• Townsend Street bicycle lanes, 8th Street to The Embarcadero (Project 2-16)
• Alemany Boulevard bicycle lanes, Bayshore Boulevard to Rousseau Street (Project 5-2)
• Ocean Avenue bicycle lanes, Alemany Boulevard to Lee Avenue (Project 5-9)
• Potrero Avenue and Bayshore Boulevard bicycle lanes, 25th Street to Cesar Chavez Street (Project 5-11)
• Claremont Boulevard bicycle lanes, Dewey Boulevard to Portola Drive (Project 6-1)
• Sloat Boulevard bicycle lanes, The Great Highway to Skyline Boulevard (Project 8-5)

Projects that would have "minimal impacts to traffic flow and parking loss" according to the declaration:

• Beale Street bicycle lane from Bryant Street to Folsom Street (Project 2-5)
• Fremont Street bicycle lane from Folsom Street to Harrison Street (Project 2-7)
• Howard Street westbound bicycle lane at 9th Street (Project 2-8)
• Otis Street westbound bicycle lane, Gough Street to South Van Ness Avenue (Project 2-15)
• Scott Street, northbound left tum bicycle lane, Fell Street to Oak Street (Project 3-5)
• Mississippi Street bicycle lanes, 16th Street to Mariposa Street (Project 4-5)
• Kansas Street bicyclelanes, 23rd Street to 26th Street (Project 5-8)
• Claremont Boulevard bicycle lanes, Dewey Boulevard to Portola Drive (Project 6-1)
• Clipper Street bicycle lanes from Douglass Street to Portola Drive (Project 6-2)
• 7th Avenue bicycle lanes and sharrows from Lawton Street to Lincoln Way (Project 7-2)
• John F. Kennedy Drive bicycle lanes, Kezar Drive to Transverse Drive (Project 7-4)
• Kirkham Street bicycle lanes, 6th Avenue to The Great Highway (with sharrows only between 18th and 20th Avenues) (Project 727)
  
• Sloat Boulevard bicycle lanes, The Great Highway to Skyline Boulevard (Project 8-5)
  

Judge Busch could partially lift the injunction for now, allowing the city to paint sharrows but not bike lanes. Flickr photo: BikePortland.org

Today's hearing came two months after the City Attorney's office filed a motion to lift the bike injunction, arguing the city had met all its legal obligations by completing an exhaustive environmental impact report (EIR) on the bike plan, which was approved by the Board of Supervisors and the MTA Board this summer. Bicycling advocates had hoped Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch would lift the injunction today, clearing the way for the MTA to begin rolling out the 45 bike projects recently approved by the agency's board.

The injunction was first implemented when Miles sued the city for failing to complete an EIR for the bike plan, which the MTA had treated as a series of discrete projects.

Deputy City Attorney Kristen Jensen argued before the court that a hearing on the adequacy of the EIR, which Miles is seeking, should be dealt with separately. "The burden shifts to the petitioners once the EIR is presented," said Jenson. "The lens through which the court must look changes dramatically."

Jensen also cited the rising number of injuries to cyclists in the past two years, which she said was unexpected even given the rising popularity of cycling, adding extra urgency to lifting the injunction. "The city has been unable for the last three-plus years to do virtually anything for the safety of bicyclists in San Francisco," Jensen said. "The city needs the ability to start making the city safer."

"The rule is the public entity goes ahead while the review goes on," Judge Busch told a courtroom filled mostly with MTA representatives, reporters, SFBC staff and Rob Anderson. Busch said his concerns were mostly procedural: Can he dissolve the injunction and then order the MTA to reverse bike projects if he later sides with the plaintiff's weak contentions the EIR doesn't comply with CEQA?

Miles argued that the court does need to first certify the adequacy of the EIR before lifting the injunction, and that an eventual hearing, perhaps in March 2010, would be pointless since the city would likely implement most of the plan by then, perhaps irreversibly.

When pressed by the judge on what projects the city plans to go forward with immediately, the City Attorney's office replied that the MTA plans to first move first on painting sharrows and installing bike racks. Deputy City Attorney Audrey Williams Pearson said the MTA has determined it can paint 20 sharrows, install 5 bike racks and stripe 400 feet of bike lanes per day. The City Attorney's office pointed out that bike racks and sharrows don't require the removal of traffic lanes, so they would be less likely to impact traffic before a final hearing on the EIR in March 2010.

Proposed new bike lanes across the city. Image: SFBC

The judge asked the City Attorney's office to submit a four-to-five-page declaration by this Friday detailing the MTA's likely immediate activity on bike infrastructure if the injunction is lifted before a March hearing. In addition, on November 12, both sides will present the judge with short briefs on whether they believe the court would have the legal authority to reverse any new bike infrastructure installed before the March hearing, if it finds the EIR is inadequate (which is seemingly unlikely.) The judge also asked both sides to agree upon a schedule for the EIR hearing by November 12. The City Attorney's office said it could submit a brief by this Friday instead, but Miles cited her busy schedule with another case and requested the additional time to complete the brief.

It's possible the judge would neither completely lift nor entirely preserve the injunction after the November 12 briefs are in. He suggested the possibility of a partial lifting of the injunction, perhaps allowing sharrows and bike racks but not bike lanes to be installed, for instance, until the March 2010 EIR hearing.

Despite dashed hopes for an end to the injunction today, the SFBC's Andy Thornley remained optimistic about the hearing. "The line of questioning we were hearing today indicated that he is considering whether there is a way to relieve the injunction partially or totally with an eye to the reversibility of these change," said Thornley. "It's just paint, it's just bike racks, and I think the judge in his questioning is indicating that he would be open to some relief to the injunction, because we can always erase them. That would be at the city's risk, of course."

While the additional delay is a significant disappoint to the city's bicycling advocates, the City Attorney's filing this Friday could provide an interesting view into the MTA's timeline for rolling out the bike plan projects - and a hint of whether Judge Busch's apparent preference for reversible projects could influence that timeline.

"The rule is the public entity goes ahead while the review goes on," Superior Court Judge Peter J. Busch told a courtroom filled mostly with MTA representatives, reporters, SFBC staff and Rob Anderson. Busch's concerns were mostly procedural: Can he dissolve the injunction and then order the MTA to reverse bike projects if he later sides with the plaintiff's weak contentions the EIR doesn't comply with CEQA?

Deputy City Attorney Kristen Jensen argued passionately that the injunction needs to be lifted as soon as possible to make the city's streets safer for "bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists."

When pressed by the judge on what projects the city intended to go forward with immediately, the City Attorney's office replied that the MTA plans to move on painting sharrows and installing bike racks. Deputy City Attorney Audrey Williams Pearson said the MTA has determined it can paint 20 sharrows, install 5 bike racks and do 400 feet of striping per day.

The city was ordered to submit a brief on what projects the MTA plans to implement between now and when a final hearing is held to determine the adequacy of the EIR in March.

In our ongoing coverage of the adverse affects of traffic engineers' over-reliance on automobile level of service (LOS) measurements, we've examined how new amendments to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) would allow local jurisdictions greater freedom in choosing whether they want to develop their cities for cars or for transit, cycling, and livable streets.  Simply put, if the CEQA amendments are codified, cities all over the state could become more like San Jose.

While San Francisco labors with the development of its auto trip generation (ATG) metric and could spend a year or more setting a development impact fee that would go to improving transit, cycling and pedestrian safety, San Jose completed a citywide transportation environmental impact statement (EIS) in 2002 and adopted its vision for sustainable, transit-oriented growth in 2005 [PDF]. What's more, this transportation and land-use plan moves San Jose ahead of the curve compared to other cities in meeting the requirements under AB 32 (carbon reduction targets) and SB 375 (limiting sprawl).

"We want to grow up, not out," said Hans Larsen, Acting Director of San Jose's Department of Transportation (DOT), noting the city couldn't accommodate the 400,000 new residents expected by 2030 within San Jose's current boundaries by adding more sprawling developments and more traffic. "We had a policy conflict between our growth plan, which was really smart-growth, and our transportation management policies, which have historically been oriented toward providing enough capacity for cars."

Because new development will inevitably bring additional car trips, no matter how well situated near transit, the DOT conceived of a development impact fee that is applied to improving pedestrian safety and the sustainable transportation network. In determining the impact fee, the DOT looked at how much, on average, developers traditionally spent on LOS mitigations to increase car capacity. This number, $2,000-3,000 per auto trip generated by the new development, is assessed for developments that create 400 or less net new peak-hour trips. If the project will create more than 400 new peak-hour trips, a fee is determined in the process of environmental review.

Through the Strong Neighborhoods Initiative (SNI) started by former Mayor Ron Gonzales, communities located in the SPAs developed lists of neighborhood priorities, most of them related to transportation and livability. The auto-trip fees from new developments are then distributed by the DOT to meet the needs elaborated in the community's priority list.

In the process of creating this very strong link between new development and efficient transportation, the DOT designated Protected Intersections along transit corridors. At these intersections, no matter how bad auto LOS would degrade with a transportation or development project, the city will not widen the streets, soften turning radii, or otherwise add vehicle capacity. In fact, the only mitigations permissible are those that calm traffic further, improve transit and bicycle accessibility, or make pedestrian conditions safer. The DOT created an initial list of approximately twenty Protected Intersections when it completed the citywide transportation EIS and the public has added a handful more in subsequent negotiations with the DOT and City Council. 

Because of the broader economic downturn, the policy has yet to realize the full benefits of using development fees to improve sustainable transportation. Four development projects in the SPAs, totaling more than 3,000 residential units, have been approved by the city since the plan was adopted, but none of them has started construction, according to Pineda. The project closest to completing its financing obligations, a residential development that would build on the existing parking lot at the San Jose Flea Market, will provide $1.7 million in impact fees, much of which will go to improve streetscape and pedestrian conditions in a nearby commercial district as established in an SNI priority list.

BRT corridor currently. Photo: San Jose DOT.

BRT corridor as envisioned when develiopment impact fees are applied to transit, bicycle, and pedestrian improvements. Image: San Jose DOT.

Surprise! San Francisco has its first new bike lanes in three years, five days before a scheduled court hearing on lifting the bicycle injunction.

The new bike lanes are part of the 19th Avenue mixed-use path, Project 8.1 in the Bike Plan, filling the bike network gap between 20th Avenue and the heart of San Francisco State University. The project is exempt from the bike injunction because it's on the university's campus, which is not city-owned land.

The path removes the largest impediment to getting to campus by bicycle, said Jason Porth, associate director of community relations for SFSU. "The city's bike lanes really funnel people who are going north/south in the vicinity of 19th Avenue to take 20th Avenue," said Porth, which is mostly a smooth ride through the Richmond and Sunset. "But when you hit Buckingham Way, you run into a very steep grade change, and no way to get into campus without going down 19th Avenue."

Click to enlarge: The new lanes (blue line) link University Park North with Thornton Hall. Image: Google Maps

Now, cyclists can reach the core of SFSU's campus directly from Stonestown, where the 20th Avenue bike route passes through a parking lot. Porth said it's part of the school's plan to encourage cycling to campus. "We do hope to see an increase in the number of cyclists," said Porth.

While the new infrastructure is strictly on SFSU's campus, students may not be the only bicyclists to benefit from it. "It fits in well with the campus' desire to connect better to the city and the community at large and find more ways to allow people to access the campus," said Porth, including allowing Lake Merced resident to the south to access points north such as Stonestown, Stern Grove, and the Sunset.

SFBC Program Manager Marc Caswell praised SFSU's efforts to improve bicycle access on campus:

This path connecting the Citywide Bike Network to the heart of campus is the first step in SFSU's plan for the North-South bike path through campus. Combined with SFSU's installation of over 200 bike racks over the past 2 years and the continued success of the Bicycle Advocacy Group's SFSU Bike to School Day, SFSU is well on it's way to being a bike-friendly campus. In the coming years, biking at SFSU will continue to grow and the SFBC looks forward to continuing our work with both the campus administration and the student-led Bike Advocacy Group to continue to improve bike access and build a greener, healthier, and more vibrant campus.

The mixed-use path was built on what Porth said was a steep hillside with dead and diseased trees that already required removal, as well as racquetball courts that were no longer in use and had been converted to storage. Once hillside landscaping and some additional painting is completed, there will be a community celebration for the new path.

The fresh lane striping arrives just in time for SFSU's Bike to School Day next Wednesday, part of Sustainable SF State Week. Randall Orr, who's coordinating Bike to School Day, said he'll be conducting outreach to cyclists, and hopes they will advocate for even bigger improvements, like bike paths that reach all the way across campus. For now, bicyclists must dismount and walk through the campus core. "Unless people step up and advocate for better bike infrastructure, it won't come anytime soon," said Orr. "They could be doing more to plan for having at least one or two bike paths that transect campus."

The timing of this project, which was funded by a Transportation Fund for Clean Air grant from the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, administered by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, was coincidental, said Porth. While bicyclists hope the injunction will be lifted very soon, the SFSU project just happens to be a well-timed whetting of the appetite. "It could have been at any time," said Porth. "It just happens to be a funny coincidence."

Photo: Randall Orr

Photo: Randall Orr

Photo: Randall Orr

Photo: Randall Orr

The SFMTA is already surveying locations where bike racks have been requested and plans to add 750 racks as soon as the injunction is lifted. Photo: Dave Snyder.

Superior Court Judge Peter Busch could make a ruling on the state of the injunction as early as this Friday, though it is likely he will wait until after the November 2nd hearing. The City Attorney's office filed its response [PDF] yesterday to an opposition brief [PDF] from Rob Anderson's attorney, Mary Miles, which argues that claims the city must prove the adequacy of an exhaustive EIR before dissolving the injunction have no merit.

Most advocates and City Hall insiders who have followed the case closely don't expect a ruling before mid-November, though they are hopeful the judge's recent actions are a positive sign: the litigants had asked for a continuance to a later date, but they were denied.

"We believe the city completed a comprehensive and unprecedented EIR, but there is no certainty what the court will do," said MTA spokesperson Judson True. "Our charge is to be ready when the injunction is lifted and we are. Of the 45 projects we hope to complete, we anticipate more than 20 in the first year after the injunction is lifted."

The cost of the 56 priority projects in the Bike Plan was projected in June of this year to be about $14 million, a trivial sum compared to the agency's annual capital budget of approximately $700 million, but far more than the $1 to $2 million the agency spent on bicycle improvements before the injunction. Subsequent design changes have shaved several million dollars off that total, and only 45 of the 60 projects in the bike plan were approved by the MTA Board of Directors in June. The cost to build all 45 projects, plus bike racks and parking corrals and signage, is estimated at $10 million over two years. 

According to Timothy Papandreou, the MTA's Deputy Director of Transportation Planning, the agency is prepared to spend what is necessary to build the network, even if they have to use funds not specifically dedicated to the bike network. "We don't feel we don't have enough money to fund the majority of the program," he said. In addition to grant sources dedicated to bicycle improvements, the city could spend its flexible surface transportation money on bicycle improvements, but to date, it has not done so.

"I can't guarantee that we're going to get the funds we apply for next year, but we will find the money to build everything that's approved within the next two years," Papandreou said.

For fear of upsetting the court further and adding delay to the injunction, MTA staff repeatedly told Streetsblog any preparation they were planning was contingent on the judge's decision. The injunction was punitive, after all, and any action by the MTA that is perceived as disrespectful of the strict interpretation of environmental law -- the grounds for his earlier decision to impose the injunction -- might be reason to continue it for a longer period of time.

True said he was cautious about sharing any specifics of the more than 20 routes the agency intends to paint in year one, but he said some of the obvious ones would get priority, though they could be subject to change. From his shortlist:

• Townsend Street, project 2.16
  
• Alemany Boulevard, project 5.2
  
• Illinois Street, project 4.3
  
• Clipper Street, project 6.2
  

True also said the agency would paint all 75 miles of sharrows in the first year and planned to increase the total supply of bicycle parking by nearly 50 percent, adding 750 new racks to the 1550 total citywide. Hundreds of those racks are sitting in a warehouse ready for installation and agency staff have already been surveying locations where bike racks have been requested by the public.

According to Bridget Smith, Director of the Livable Streets Program at the MTA, the agency is even studying low-cost ways to build on-street parking corrals, which accommodate 10-15 bicycles in the same parking space holding only one car. She said up to a dozen could be constructed soon after the injunction is lifted.

In the end, True said it would be an understatement to say that bicycle advocates are "chomping at the bit," but he cautioned patience in the lead-up to the court's decision

"We can mobilize paint crews quickly and we have projects identified that are ready to go. We've identified wet-weather projects, for example," said True. "I think the cumulative effect of the work that we plan to do, even in the first few months, will be noticeable to everyone. It's a big deal."

Dave Snyder contributed reporting.

In some cities people are so desperate for bike lanes they'll mark their own. Elizabeth Press of Streetfilms in New York City, on the other hand, had this to say about the work the NYC Department of Transportation has been doing in her city: "It feels like every time I get on my bike there is a new bike lane -- sometimes on the left, sometimes buffered, and sometimes completely separated from automobile traffic."

For those of us who live in cities that haven't caught the bicycle infrastructure fever or have been prevented from such by a bicycle injunction, perhaps the best we can do is tag along with her as she rides the streets with NYC DOT bicycle infrastructure staff as they show off the many classes of bike lanes and inventive facilities they have added in the past few years.

Behold and be bicycle-lane green with envy!

New Yorkers can use Ride the City to plan bike trips. Cyclists in most other American cities don't have the option.

College students will be pleased to see maps of many campuses; and cyclists will now find many more trails and paths to explore. Soon we even plan on providing you with biking directions to take advantage of this new data.

The technical hurdles to creating online bike route planners are substantial. Right now, cyclists in only a handful of cities can take advantage of such tools. Bay Area bicyclists have 511.org, New Yorkers have Ride the City, as do residents of Chicago, Austin, Louisville, and San Diego. If you're in Portland, Oregon or Milwaukee, you can use Bycycle.org. As far as I know, that's about all we've got in the USA. Think there's an appetite for more? Peter Smith, the man behind the "Bike There" campaign, has collected 50,000 signatures asking Google to add bike trip tools. You can sign on here, just in case.

New bicycle racks at Balboa High. Flickr photo: Christopher Pepper

Nik Kaestner, Director of Sustainability for SFUSD, explained that the district now adds bike racks whenever it upgrades schools as part of a renovation bond program. "2002-2003 Prop. A bonds are being used to renovate our buildings in response to a lawsuit. The main focus is ADA accessibility and fire/life safety," said Kaestner. "There's some money put aside for greening schoolyards on elementary school campuses, and then there's also some money usually left over. At some point the decision was made that one thing every school would get is bike racks."

That's where the Balboa High racks came from, but there are also two other major sources of funding for new racks. The city has also committed to giving SFUSD 30 bike racks, but for now the city doesn't have enough racks on hand to give them to schools and still be ready when the injunction is lifted, said Kaestner. "They want all their racks ready to go as soon as the injunction is lifted." Those racks should be ready by early 2010 once the city appropriates additional money for purchasing racks. Funds for racks at eight more schools were obtained through a grant secured by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

For now, the bike rack installations are pretty modest: each new installation includes two racks with room for 16 bikes total. Kaestner said the school district would like to expand that once the current funds are used up. "Right now, our focus is on schools that request them, then the next focus will be to hit the schools that didn't necessarily request them, then the third focus will be, let's get more than just two sets of bike racks" per school.

SFUSD will also be launching a Safe Routes to School program in October, as part of its broader push to encourage bicycling and walking to school.

Elsewhere in San Francisco, new bike racks can be spotted at some newly renovated libraries, including still-under-wraps racks at the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Branch Library in the Castro. Let us know in the comments section below if you've spotted other injunction-exempt racks or bike infrastructure going up around the city.

These racks at the Eureka Valley/Harvey Milk Branch Library are locked down and under wraps, but only until renovation on the library is completed. Photo: Michael Rhodes

Photo: Arul Prasad

Though much of the media reaction to Mayor Gavin Newsom's Better Market Street Project is narrowly focusing on the traffic impacts of mandatory right-turns at two intersections on Market, the trial project will attempt to do much more to improve the public realm and public perception of San Francisco's most iconic street.

"The new and improved Market Street will rival main streets around the world," said Mayor Newsom. "With input from the community, and the leadership of the five key agencies, we will identify specific solutions that work best for our main corridor."

The traffic changes at 8th Street and 6th Street are intended to reduce conflicts between cars, transit, bicycles and pedestrians, and the success of the restrictions will be measured by a stakeholder group that includes the MTA, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (TA), DPW, the Planning Department, advocates like the SFBC and Walk SF, and business groups like the the Market Street Association, Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) and the Union Square BID. By bringing all the groups together, the Mayor's office hoped to avoid the pitfalls from previous splintered efforts to improve Market Street.

Kit Hodge, Director of the Great Streets Project for the SFBC, said that some of the more reticent stakeholders concerned about the traffic changes got on board with the project when the Mayor's office broadened the scope to include quality-of-life issues.

"What galvanized the stakeholders is the trial approach and the placemaking approach, which reflects multiple looks on Market Street, not just transportation, but seeing the street as a place," she said. "There are a number of other things happening beyond traffic changes, including ad hoc plazas on the sidewalks, art in buildings, music along the street."

Hodge said the Great Streets Project would continue collecting baseline data through next week and then would help the agencies with public feedback.  She encouraged all interested public to use the many options for communicating with project organizers, including the website, 311, Twitter, and Facebook.

Astrid Haryati, the Mayor's Director of Greening, will oversee temporary greening measures along Market in the pilot area, what are being dubbed Greenpods, and will help to expand the lunchtime concert series People in Plazas that coincided with the opening of the Pavement to Parks plazas.

San Francisco County Transportation Authority (TA) Senior Transportation Planner Zabe Bent said the holistic approach improving the street was important for garnering support from business groups and advocates. She said that with their involvement, the planners and transit operators could consider bold long-term improvements, such as Calm the Safety Zones, which would add high-visibility markings to the street and clearer demarcations between transit, pedestrians, cyclists, and vehicles.

"The goal is to make sure that [we find] ways to improve safety for bicyclists and pedestrians."

Though a Calm the Safety Zone could take many forms, this TA image is an example rendering.

As part of the recent Strategic Analysis Report (SAR) completed for the Board of Supervisors, Bent explained, they have a placeholder in effect for additional pilots, which she said could mean "refining the existing pilot locations - or identifying additional improvements elsewhere."

She listed the intersections of 4th St, Sansome, and Battery as locations where stakeholders were concerned about conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians.

A further consideration for the TA and the MTA is the impact the restrictions will have on parallel streets in SOMA, such as traffic calming on Howard and Folsom to protect pedestrians there, depending on what comes of the evaluation process.

Though Bent said there is no guarantee that they would ban cars on Market Street, she said the TA had studied the scenario and could consider fundamental questions of how the street is used if there was a demand for it. She also said the trial was an important first step before the scheduled repaving of Market Street in 2013, when agencies will need to have any significant engineering changes prepared.

"The TEP has identified Market Street as one of the main priorities for improvement.  As TEP implementation moves forward, we could dedicate Prop K funds to restricting autos altogether, changing how automobiles use the lanes," she said.

Whether or not the approach will fundamentally change Market Street and make it into a grand promenade (as the Mayor hopes) could depend on a number of issues bigger than street changes, according to Bent. "Long-term land use and social services are not going to change in the next six months. Those are things that need a deeper look among the stakeholders."

MTA spokesperson Judson True pointed to the broader issues on Market Street as well, saying the MTA will analyze the impacts of the restrictions on Muni and will use this as an appropriate time to consider the long-term goals for how the street is engineered and how it functions.

"We're really excited to be participating in this effort. The time is right to re-imagine Market Street in its entirety."

Images: Rael Fratello Architects

Ronald Rael, Principal at Rael San Fratello Architects and Professor of Architecture at UC Berkeley's graduate program, has developed a plan that would preserve the existing cantilever and truss section of the Bay Bridge and transform the span into a park and mixed-use development. In homage to the High Line, Rael's project is dubbed The Bay Line (PDF).

Rael and Berkeley have submitted their proposal to a design competition sponsored by UCLA, but have not made a formal proposal to the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) or Caltrans, both of which are not likely to support any more changes to construction of the Bay Bridge.

Though MTC spokesperson Randy Rentschler hadn't seen the proposal, he called any attempt to preserve the old span a "pipe dream." "We won't leave it up for the same reason we are taking it down. That is, there is a real chance this bridge segment won't stand up in a quake. Also, keeping it maintained is cost prohibitive."

He added, joking, "Past that, it would be a great permanent location of the Summer X Games."

Rael, however, is quite serious about the project, pointing to many examples of re-purposing bridges and rail infrastructure to house dwellings and parks, including the Ponte Vecchio in Florence, the Promenade Plantee in Paris, and the Belt Line in Atlanta. Rael envisions the project as an important use of existing infrastructure to promote urban density and has a proposal to pay for the necessary seismic retrofits, which he points out, would be billions cheaper than the ballooned cost of the new self-anchored suspension bridge that is being built for cars.

"The bridge does need further seismic upgrades, however it was initially considered that a seismic retrofit of the old bridge would cost $200 million—something we've taken into account in our proposal," said Rael. "Instead, it was decided a new bridge would be better because it was estimated that it could be built for a few million more than the $200 million retrofit, at $780 million. As I understand it, the new bridge is now estimated to cost $6.2 billion to complete."

By promoting many uses of the bridge, including rents for retail and residential, the project would help pay for its own maintenance. Rael does project an upfront capital shortfall of $350 million, which he proposes recouping through bridge tolls or commercial rental over 40 years.

The upper deck would include a 1.9 mile bicycle and pedestrian pathway (with amazing views, no doubt) as well as tennis courts, a climbing wall, and 15 acres for planting gardens and growing crops. The lower level mixed-use development would include a number of pre-fabricated residential units, swimming pools, retail development and cultural amenities, such as museums and an open-air amphitheater.

Given the successful fundraising for the High Line and a very real need to maximize the potential of existing urban infrastructure, is The Bay Line less of a pipe dream than one would think?

From the press release:

Herrera's motion argues that the completion of the environmental review underlying the original injunction, together with the growing number of bicycle-related injury accidents in San Francisco, justify dissolving the injunction. The dissolution would allow the City to move forward with the implementation of 45 separate bicycle route improvements that are intended to enhance the safety and usability of City streets for the bicyclists, pedestrians and motorists who make use of them.

A hearing on the motion has been tentatively set for September 24th at 9:30 a.m. before Judge Peter Busch.

"After years of environmental review and public participation, the San Francisco Bicycle Plan reflects an unprecedented consensus to create a City that is safer, healthier and more environmentally responsible," Herrera said in a statement. "I am confident that the exhaustive process we've now completed will finally enable us to move forward."

Andy Thornley, the program director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, got a look at the massive filing, which includes all of the documents related to the EIR and Bike Plan, and was pleased the legal ordeal might be coming to an end soon.

"It's been a hell of a long time. A little while longer won't kill us, but it just feels good to finally have all of that work delivered back to the judge, and the psychological benefit of saying 'here ya go judge'," he said, adding that it's still hard to predict what Rob Anderson's attorney, Mary Miles, may have up her sleeve.

"It's certainly no time to be complacent about how this thing is going to turn out," Thornley said. "But we feel pretty comfortable that the City Attorney and Planning and MTA and all of the folks who've been working on this for so long have done a great job and made a good case...but we're not clear of this thing until the judge takes the handcuffs off."

The MTA Board certified the EIR and approved the Bike Plan June 26th, legislating 45 of the 56 priority projects, and the Board of Supervisors later followed, voting to reject two appeals. When Judge Busch lifts the injunction, the MTA has said it is ready to begin striping bike lanes and installing bike racks, though it has not released a detailed time line.

Flickr photo: crook inc

Cyclists know all too well the frustration of traffic lights that only change when cars activate a ground sensor, but are not tripped when bicycles arrive.

Traditional traffic signals come in two versions: fixed time lights for which everyone waits and demand-activated signals that use sensors that recognize when a car is waiting, usually through an electromagnetic sensor embedded in the pavement. As most city-dwelling bike riders know, if you hit a demand-activated light you either wait until a car arrives, press the pedestrian "walk" button to activate the signal or blow through the intersection on red. It's a safety issue for the county and groups that pushed the change, including the Marin County Bicycle Coalition.

The bike-friendly signal project will use three different types of sensors to spot waiting bicyclists, according to Pat Echols, Marin Public Works Senior Civil Engineer. Depending on the space and mechanics of a given intersection they will use an electromagnetic pavement sensor, similar to the ones for cars, or a wireless pavement sensor that uses microwaves to detect the bikes or lastly a real-time video camera that tells the traffic signal's computer that it sees a bicyclist waiting, according to Echols.

The video cameras do not take photos and are not used for traffic enforcement, but solely for spotting bikes or cars to activate a signal change, he said. These demand-to-activate sensors as they are known, may begin going in as early as this fall if all the approvals can be wrangled from each city and the state, according to Echols. But it is a tight window of time and the installation work may not start until next spring. But they are coming. Once underway the project should take two months to complete.

The County set aside $922,000 for the project, out of a $25 million federal pilot project to promote bicycling and walking in Marin County. Currently $20 million in projects (PDF) have been identified.

The lights include four intersections in Corte Madera, two in Fairfax, two in Larkspur, one in Marin City, two in Marinwood, three in Mill Valley, 10 in Novato, three in San Anselmo, two in San Rafael and two in Sausalito.

This is a known issue and I'm working on it diligently. We also discussed the matter at the City of Oakland's Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee meeting last Thursday. The bike lane should end at the point where there is insufficient width for the bike lane. To mark the transition, the last 100' of bike lane stripe will be a skip stripe (Detail 39A) and then two sharrows will follow the end of the bike lane to establish bicyclists' positioning in the travel lane.

I don't have a date for when these modifications will be completed, but my goal is as soon as possible.

The more important point, as Roger Miller of Walk Oakland Bike Oakland points out, may be be that the bike lanes have gone in with virtually no impact to traffic. "The city reduced auto lanes from 4 to 2. And there's no traffic. None," Miller wrote in an email to Streetsblog. "The City could easily stripe that bike lane on Oak St all the way to I-880. Tomorrow. And for that matter most of the bike plan's downtown routes with ease."

Organizers of San Francisco's numerous street festivals, including the How Weird Street Faire pictured above, must get a street closure permit from ISCOTT. Flickr photo: kempo101

In a city that loves to meet and fete in the streets, Shamban oversees hundreds of street closure requests every year, a job she clearly loves, though she takes her responsibility quite seriously.

"There are a lot of events and a lot of the events are connected to cultural traditions," said Shamban. "San Francisco being a city with so many rich cultures, that has something to do with it. That all adds to the complexity of the special events calendars."

"We have certain rules and regulations and they need to be followed," she added.

Take a block party, for instance. If you don't live along a transit line, you're in luck. Likewise if you're not on an arterial like Fell or Van Ness, though you might really want that street to be calmed while you and your neighbors play hopscotch in the middle of it. If you are on a block that can be closed for a small event and there is a transit line, the MTA might consider re-routing the transit for the duration of the event, though you will need to recoup the cost. This year, they are charging eight dollars per coach per hour, so depending on your line and the duration of your event, it could run up to 500 dollars or more.

That price will go up by two dollars an hour next year, another two the year after, because it actually costs the MTA more to divert the buses. Given the state of the MTA's operating budget, though, we can't begrudge them the fee. Muni will even consider re-routing the electric trolleys, assuming your event is only a block or two long, as each electric trolley has a battery with enough power to allow minor diversions while unattached to the wires.

In preparing this story, we heard from several organizations and groups that they had difficulty navigating ISCOTT, though most of them didn't want to go on record for fear of hurting their chances of getting a street closure permit in the future. One of the central complaints had to do with perceptions of fairness and objectivity at the meetings among the agency representatives.

How Weird Street Fair organizer Brad Olsen offered this mild criticism of the process: "My opinion is the system is generally fair, but there are times when the objectivity of the voting panel can be swayed by one member's opinion (right or wrong) or the vocal opposition by a small minority of residents. I think the ISCOTT panel is aware that outdoor events are a vital part of the social fabric that makes living in San Francisco so appealing to many residents."

Organizers of events that are unique and don't fit into a traditional permitting procedure, such as Park(ing) day, don't go before ISCOTT at all, preferring to take their chances on the streets with police that may or may not be forgiving of the unusual use of parking spaces. MTA spokesperson Judson True said there wasn't a lot of "hand-wringing" over Park(ing) day within the MTA.

When Streetsblog considered having its party after Sunday Streets, we also skipped the ISCOTT process, leaving it up to chance that we could be shut down by the SFPD, which nearly happened. Photo by Myleen Holero.

Andy Thornley, the SFBC's program director, called ISCOTT's record "uneven," saying at some ISCOTT meetings, "bike and pedestrian projects were often distorted, delayed, or killed without compelling reference to adopted policy and standards, rather based on the opinions and attitudes of whatever unaccountable cop or fireman was sitting in the meeting."

The MTA's True acknowledged that some issues around the use of streets were policy matters and should not be dealt with at ISCOTT. "ISCOTT had begun handling traffic and engineering issues that were not part of the statutory language. There was a feeling that this was not a good use of ISCOTT's time."

As a result, the MTA created another interdepartmental committee, the Transportation Advisory Staff Committee (TASC), to manage issues that have policy implications before bringing them to public hearings or the MTA Board (more on that committee in another post).

Susan King, who works for Livable City and is the chief organizer for Sunday Streets, felt that the process could be amended to function smoother.  "In the case of Sunday Streets, we have been strongly supported by MTA and City staff in getting the permits we need and have not been stymied. I understand the process better, but still find all the various sub permits- Sound (Entertainment Comm), Rec & Park (for use of city park property), Port (use of Port property), National Park (ditto), and other (Dept. of Public Health for food vending) to be a lot of moving parts to coordinate."

She also said the process could be "demystified and made more available to grassroots organizers. More people will find creating events less daunting. There is a lot of paperwork and it discourages potential partners. The expenses for these permits can add up and be discouraging if there are not a lot of hands on deck available to help manage the work."

True defended the agency's role in the process, saying they made every effort to be transparent to the public in any process that would effect policy. "We have to protect the city; there are legal requirements; that is part of our job. But I think San Francisco and the SFMTA have an incredibly open process, all the way up to [MTA Chief] Nat Ford. We may not be on exactly the same page every step of the way, but we're reading the same book."

At 16th Street and Valencia, the first signs of streetscape improvement work. Photo: Bryan Goebel

Businesses are "basically looking at a double-whammy over the next nine to twelve months," said Daly. "The double-whammy being, obviously, the economy that's down, tough times for everybody here in San Francisco, and then looking forward to living through a construction project. So, I wanted to come here and help put this together to put the word out that Valencia Street is open for business, that you're going to find no better commercial corridor in all of San Francisco."

The enhancements on Valencia, from 15th Street to 19th Street, will include sidewalk widening, additional street trees, additional street lighting, sidewalk bulb-outs, and art elements. While business owners expressed concerns about maintaining access and parking during construction, there was broad support for the project on the whole.

With Supervisor Chris Daly and business owners looking on, the DPW's Alex Murillo vowed to keep access to businesses open, and bike lanes clear of work materials. Photo: Michael Rhodes

"Certainly any kind of disruption to the street affects us, but it's all the more reason to come out," said Deborah Cullinan, executive director of Intersection for the Arts. "At the end of this process, which is only about nine months, it's going to be even more gorgeous. There are going to be more trees, wider sidewalks, it's just going to be a better place to come to. So we hope that people continue to come out."

Supervisor Chris Daly. Photo: Michael Rhodes

Sean Quigley, who owns Paxton Gate's Curiosities for Kids, also sought to remind people to shop the Valencia corridor during construction. "They're going to do their best to not be disruptive, but we still people to come down and support the local businesses."

The DPW's Murillo vowed that he would do everything in his power to respond to concerns. "We're also going to be very, very aware during construction," said Murillo. "I want to let everyone know that we will be aware of the needs of pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists in the area. So if there are any concerns during construction, I'm your point of contact, reach out to me."

Murillo said the DPW has "a partnering session" tomorrow "where we're meeting with the contractor, myself, other city officials, police captain [Stephen] Tacchini, Pedro Tuyub, who's with the Mission Merchants Association," and Neal Patel of the SFBC.

"We've got a partnering session where we're meeting with them, strategizing just how we can try to streamline the project and address any concerns. The reason I invited them out there is because I need them to add emphasis to what I've been saying, which is, keep the bike lanes open, keep the housekeeping tight, we don't want any trash out there."

Sean Quigley, owner of Paxton Gate's Curiosities for Kids. Photo: Michael Rhodes

To minimize disruption, DPW will work on one block at a time, first on the west side of all the blocks, and then on the east side of each block. Work will also be suspended from Thanksgiving through New Year's Day, so businesses will not be hit during the holiday season.

Supervisor Daly, who arrived by bicycle, said he was there "to do my part, bicycling up and down the corridor, frequenting the small business and the arts organizations, supporting the non-profits here over the next year of construction."

Bicyclists are encouraged to contact both DPW's Alex Murillo and SFBC's Neal Patel if they encounter an obstructed bike lane without proper signage during the nine months of construction. Murillo can be reached by phone at (415) 437-7009 or email at alex.m.murillo (at) sfdpw.org. Patel can be reached by phone at (415) 431-BIKE x312 or email at neal (at) sfbike.org.