SFMTA Crews Installing Buffered Bike Lane on Folsom Street

SFMTA crews are currently installing a widened, buffered bike lane on Folsom Street between 11th and Fourth Streets.

The SFMTA got to work quickly on this bike lane expansion — crews hit the street as early as Friday, just a few days after the project was approved by the SFMTA Board of Directors. It should be finished next week, according to the agency’s Livable Streets Facebook page.

As we reported, the pilot project was well-received when it was presented at a community meeting a month ago. With the space for moving motor vehicles narrowed by one lane, the project is expected to result in a safer, calmer street for everyone using it.

The project is also an example of how quickly the city can implement street safety upgrades when it comes down to it. The death of 24-year-old Amelie Le Moullac and the shocking response from the SFPD resulted in a surge in public pressure on the SFMTA to take immediate safety measures in SoMa.

“The Folsom pilot is the result of thousands of San Franciscans, fed up with the tragedies caused by poorly designed streets, emphatically demanding a safer South of Market for people biking from city leaders over the past months,” the SF Bicycle Coalition wrote in its member newsletter today. “Our next goal is to persuade the city to expand the pilot beyond Fourth Street to the waterfront and to duplicate the effort on Howard Street, another dangerous SoMa corridor.”