Streetsblog San Francisco

Editor’s note: Happy New Year, everyone – I am elated to kick off 2012 as your new editor! There’s a lot of ground for Streetsblog to cover this year, and I am thrilled to take it on and explore the issues that matter most to our readers.

Streetsblog readers are no doubt familiar with the reckless driving and inconsiderate parking that endangers and inconveniences other people on the streets. The consequences of poorly designed streets and inadequate traffic enforcement are all around us. It might be a car blatantly blocking a sidewalk, bus lane, or bike lane. Or the aftermath of a crash that hurt a pedestrian or cyclist, or damaged a bus stop.

We want your photos, short video clips, and other eyewitness accounts to help us paint a picture of the danger and dysfunction on the city’s car-centric streets. Nothing makes the case for the street redesigns and policy reforms that Streetsblog writes about quite like a telling image of the everyday headaches we often take for granted. Streetsblog will run any picture or video that conveys the need for change, but we’re especially interested in the following:

• Cars blocking crosswalks, sidewalks, and dedicated lanes for buses and bikes
• Drivers failing to yield to pedestrians in crosswalks
• Video that captures the routine delays on Muni, like vehicle breakdowns, car congestion, excessive stops, and long dwell times

If you see something on the street that catches your eye, send your photos, videos, and stories to tips@sf.streetsblog.org.

New markings are on the ground delineating the short two-way bikeway linking the Market and Octavia intersection to Valencia Street and the future site of the McCoppin Hub plaza.

SFMTA crews made the improvements two weeks ago, according to the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. The pedestrian and bicycle shortcut has existed for years, but the new center line, bike markings, and signage should help increase its visibility and discourage blockage by parked vehicles.

The bi-directional bikeway is by my count the third to be marked in the city, after the Panhandle and Duboce Street.

The improvements also mark a step towards shaping the McCoppin Hub plaza, which is currently being designed. The project’s latest concept renderings show the bikeway slightly wider than it was in the first draft, and it now includes a public bike pump and an ample row of bike racks.

Construction on the plaza is expected to begin next summer. More pics after the break.

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There are a lot of wonderful pictures in our Flickr pool using reflections to great effect. Thanks for your additions and have a great weekend.

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Sorry for the long gap since our last weekly review of photos you've submitted to our Flickr pool. Thanks as always for adding photos and keep up the beautiful work. Here's a selection of some of our recent favorites. Have a great weekend!

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Improvements to San Francisco's bike network have been popping up all over town in the half-year since the city got partial relief from the bike injunction. Some of them are splashy -- like the bright green, fully-separated bike lanes on Market Street, or the on-street bike parking stations on Valencia Street.

But the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency has been even busier with many small improvements and tweaks, including one or two changes that might not be subject to the injunction at all.

In April, when a portion of Lake Street got a touch-up in the form of a 'Slurry Seal' treatment (cracks and eroded areas were paved over without doing a full repave,) the SFMTA found a way to make biking a little safer. By narrowing the traffic lanes from 12 feet to 10 feet and adding the extra space to the parking lane, people on bikes now have extra breathing room between the door zone and moving traffic. The parking lane now stretches nine feet across, so cars no longer hug the edge of the bike lane.

"The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is excited and pleased to see this re-striping on Lake Street," said the SFBC's Andy Thornley. "It makes the already good Lake Street bike lane even better by reducing the danger of dooring, and otherwise makes the bike lane more comfortable and inviting."

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If you haven't already seen the excellent two-part historical photo montage "The Lower Haight of Yesteryear" by the good folks at Haighteration, it's highly worth your time. It's amazing to me how many buildings are essentially unchanged from a century ago.

Part One here.

Part Two here.

It will soon be a lot easier for any Muni rider with a cellphone to find out when the bus will arrive.

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which operates Muni, is in the process of posting unique identification numbers at nearly all of its stops, along with instructions for dialing 511 and entering the stop ID to get arrival times. By posting the numbers, the MTA may be able to save money on work orders from 311, an information line that provides many of the same services as 511, but bills the MTA an average of $1.96 per call. All told, the MTA paid 311 over $6 million this past year.

The signs are posted at just 100 stops now, but the MTA hopes to have them up at nearly all of its 4,000 stops by mid-summer. 

If service cuts go through as planned, knowing when the bus will show up may soon be more a necessity than a convenience for riders, especially during off-peak hours. MTA spokesperson Kristen Holland said the agency hopes to give people more arrival data so they can make informed choices.

Having more information is essential, "especially when you don't have as frequent headways," said Holland. "More information is better any time, but especially then."

That will give riders options, said Holland.

"If I know it's going to be a few minutes, I'll stand and wait. Or, you know what, I think I'd rather walk up and grab this other line," said Holland, describing how riders could use the information. "Giving them information empowers that decision."

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These are photos of a serious crash at the intersection of Sloat and 19th Avenue that happened just after 1 pm today. Thanks to Streetsblog reader Nick for the tip and the photos. Here's his account:

There was a pretty bad car wreck on 19th Avenue today just after 1PM. At least one person needed to be rescued; it looked like they might have had multiple people or a family in the gray Honda. Pretty scary stuff.

From the photos, it's not exactly clear if either vehicle ran a light, but the black Prius must have been going at a good clip to wedge the silver Honda up against the pole. 19th Avenue is notorious for both speed and high volume of vehicles, while Sloat is incredibly wide and acts as an on-street freeway at times when I've been on it.

Although it's unclear if the crash was due to red light running or a left-turning vehicle, Nick has a pointed opinion about the danger of the intersection, which he put this way:

In terms of advocacy, this accident was preventable if there was a dedicated green arrow for left turns onto Sloat. The State installed a left arrow with "yield on green" signage after a pedestrian was killed at the same intersection in 2008. It might not seem like a big deal, but Caltrans basically said they won't install a dedicated arrow because it will cause unacceptable levels of traffic delays for 19th Avenue motorists. Apparently accidents like these are acceptable.

SFPD spokesperson Lt. Lyn Tomioka said one person was transported to a local hospital with unknown injuries. One lane of southbound 19th Avenue was closed, causing traffic delays. More photos after the jump:

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Thanks you as always for adding your beautiful photos to our Streetsblog San Francisco Flickr pool. Please send us your best shots and we might feature them on the blog. Anyone have a picture of the parrots flying around Coit Tower and Telegraph Hill?

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Here's a recent round-up of photos from our Flickr pool. Thank you as always and please do send more our way. A selection of others after the jump. Have a great weekend! Read more...