Note: GJEL Accident Attorneys regularly sponsors coverage on Streetsblog San Francisco and Streetsblog California. Unless noted in the story, GJEL Accident Attorneys is not consulted for the content or editorial direction of the sponsored content.
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:
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:
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).
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:
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.
No other field would tolerate this level of death and destruction. The tragedy of West Portal is more evidence that the traffic engineering profession is fundamentally broken