Labor Day Weekend Roundup: Protected Bike Lanes on 17th, More Juice for Caltrain

Here are a few Streetsblog news nuggets to start the long weekend.

It's not too late to support protected bike lanes on 17th

Advocate Peter Belden and the team at Safer 17th have worked for years to get protected Bike Lanes on 17th Street from Potrero to Mission Bay. The final hearing is tomorrow Friday, September 1. If SFMTA receives enough community support, this project will be approved and the first half of a critical crosstown protected bike lane will be built.

From KidSafeSF's email blast:

This project is a HUGE step in creating a safer 17th from the bay to the Castro. Imagine a 17th street safe enough for kids to bike to school. A 17th street safe enough for families to visit Crane Cove, Franklin Square and Jackson Park. Send an email now to get this critical corridor of protected bike lanes over the line.

The clock's ticking. Send your email right now.

Caltrain electrification moving forward, marks another milestone

Caltrain turned on the switch to its new South San Francisco traction substation on Wednesday, the second electrical substation that will help provide the power for its growing fleet of zero-emission electric trains. From a Caltrain release:

The electrification of the Caltrain system will deliver major benefits to the communities that it serves. Electrification will reduce Caltrain’s greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate the particulate matter caused by the aging diesel engines. Engine noise created by the trains will also be reduced.  

Service will become both more frequent and more comfortable as state-of-the-art electric trains replace the 30-year-old diesel fleet. Caltrain electrification has also created thousands of jobs locally and throughout the country, both to electrify the corridor and to assemble the new trains, which were debuted to the public in July and are available for a public tour in San Francisco on Saturday, September 23. The infrastructure that is being installed will be compatible with future high-speed rail on the corridor.

“Energization of the second traction power substation is a momentous milestone for the Caltrain Electrification Project and continues to keep us on track for launch of Electrified service in fall of 2024,” said Michelle Bouchard, Caltrain Executive Director in a statement. “Soon we be able to test electric trains along our entire corridor and we are excited to deliver a world-class system for the public.” 

September is Transit Month

September 5 will kick off the San Francisco Transit Riders annual festival celebrating all things Muni, BART, Caltrain, etc. From the SFTR's page on their first event, the celebratory ride along and rally:

Come show your support for public transit and your fellow transit riders at SFTR’s Celebratory Ride Along & Rally on September 5, which also marks our Transit Month Kick-Off Event! You’ll meet up with other riders, city leaders, SFTR members, and more at locations across the city to ride Muni together to City Hall, where we’ll have speakers contextualize the state of public transit today and set the stage for our engagement on all things transit for the rest of September. Confirmed speakers include Mayor London
Breed, Senator Scott Wiener, and Assemblymember Phil Ting.

For a full list of events, check out the SFTR Transit Month web page.

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Streetsblog San Francisco will work a half-day on Friday and will be off Monday, Sept. 4, for the Labor Day weekend, returning to cover all things bikewise, transity, and safetywise on Tuesday, Sept. 5