The Masonic Avenue Streetscape Project took another step forward today after the board of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority approved funding to conduct an environmental impact report (EIR). The board also gave the green light to funds to construct the city's first on-street two-way protected bike lane on Cargo Way in Hunter's Point.
The Masonic Avenue redesign will transform the dangerous corridor with traffic calming, greening, and other improvements for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit. The project's EIR will be completed by the SFMTA and the SF Planning Department by June 2012, according to memos accompanying the resolution passed by the SFCTA [PDF]. Once cleared, the SFMTA would approve the report as an addendum to the San Francisco Bicycle Plan before beginning a 12- to 18-month phase of "detailed design work" on the project.
The $41,000 required for the EIR, as well as the $94,000 for the Cargo Way bikeway construction, come from Prop K sales tax funds.
The SFCTA is still seeking funding for the project's estimated $18 million construction, but potential sources include the Proposition B bond measure and grants from the Metropolitan Transportation Commission and Caltrans, the agency memos state.
Residents will have to wait until at least 2014 for construction to begin on the Masonic redesign, which will bring the city's first physically raised bike lane to the corridor.
Cargo Way, meanwhile, will see the city's first two-way, on-street bikeway protected by a raised concrete barrier and fence, according to the memos. The bikeway will fill a gap in the San Francisco Bay Trail, connecting Third Street and existing bike lanes on Illinois to Heron Head's Park and Hunters Point. It will be placed along the south side of the street to minimize conflicts with trucks accessing the north side.
The project was approved in the 2009 Bike Plan and is expected to be completed by March 2012.
