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However, work is now underway on what the SFMTA is billing as the first major bike project in the district. More from the agency's web page:
This project is a major step forward for cycling in the city. Apart from the Embarcadero, there is no other protected bike lane near the Financial District — even though two out of the 10 most active bike share stations in the city are in the downtown area. With so many people returning to downtown offices after working from home due to the pandemic, this new route will offer a safer option for those looking for a more active commute.
And here's what it will look like when it's finished:
How is this flimsy piece of plastic supposed to protect anyone?A look at what SFMTA now calls a "protected" bike lane--infrastructure that is best suited to preventing damage to cars, not saving lives. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick
What good, really, is a plastic post against a vehicle like this? Or even just a car driven inattentively?Leading pedestrian intervals are defeated by right on red. Safety demands an end to the practice. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick
Meanwhile, it's not as if the means and materials to properly protect the bike lanes aren't already there, as seen with these planters between Jackson and Pacific. Just put these between motorists and cyclists to provide some real protection:
Protection on the sidewalk. But not the bike lane.Why would SFMTA put protective planters on the wrong side of the bike lane?
Is it too politically challenging to put in concrete protection? Even on the one block where they could provide protection without taking anything from the street, they fail to do so. Between Washington and Jackson there's an enormous building setback and a huge sidewalk. Would it be Armageddon to paint the bike lane onto part of this space, where cyclists would be protected, in reality, for one damn block? That's a place where it makes sense to use plastic posts--to segregate pedestrians walking from pedestrians rolling on two wheels (aka: cyclists).
There seriously isn't enough space to segregate out a bike lane at sidewalk level? The infrastructure already here. Photo: Streetsblog/RudickThere seriously isn't enough space to segregate out a bike lane at sidewalk level? The infa's already here. Photo: Streetsblog/Rudick
A "quick build" bike lane put on a wide sidewalk in Dusseldorf. Image: Google mapsA "quick build" bike lane put on a wide sidewalk in Dusseldorf. Image: Google maps
In the German example above, people are at least protected from the real danger: cars and trucks.
Meanwhile, SFMTA continues to build whatever this is:
Down the street, a striped bike lane in the door zone on the wrong side mushed between parked cars and moving trafficFarther down the street, a striped bike lane in the door zone on the wrong side
SFMTA and the Supervisor's office need to write this 1,000 times on the blackboard: cyclists (and scooterists) are pedestrians on wheels. They are not cars. And when delicate human bodies are mixed in with two-to-ten ton vehicles driven at high speeds, people end up getting maimed and killed, no matter how bright their clothes or whether or not they wear a Styrofoam bowl on their head.
The founders of the Bay Area's advocacy group dedicated to fare integration and rational schedules talk about a half-decade of fighting for better transit and what's likely to happen in the next five years.