The SFMTA Board of Directors voted unanimously Tuesday to remove the controversial center-running bike lane from Valencia Street. Construction to replace it with a conventional, curbside protected bike lane will begin in January and is expected to take two to three months. The center-running lane was installed in the spring and summer of 2023.
"I deeply regret voting to support the middle bike lane," said former SFMTA director and Valencia merchants representative Manny Yekutiel, who addressed the board during public comment.
"I’m happy and proud to see SFMTA proposing to replace the center bikeway with curbside bikeways today," said Luke Bornheimer of Streets Forward, a long-time opponent of the center-running bike lane. Representatives from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and KidSafeSF also came to speak in favor of the new curbside protected design, which would run from Valencia and 15th to Valencia and 23rd. Several speakers encouraged SFMTA to incorporate planters and beautification work into the designs.
A handful of speakers urged the SFMTA to leave things as they are, praising the center-running bike lane for its width, which allows cyclist to overtake. Nevertheless, "there are safety issues with the center-running lane that have not improved in the pilot period," said Claire Amable, director of advocacy with the Bicycle Coalition. While she agreed the newly designed curbside lanes are too narrow, she argued that by conforming to a familiar and standard design they will result in a higher level of safety.
All supporters of the new design urged SFMTA to immediately begin work on designing curbside-protected bike lanes from 23rd to Cesar Chavez which, for reasons that remain unclear, were omitted from the project. SFMTA's Paul Stannis assured the board they will move on to the next stretch in the next fiscal year. This short stretch is the only part of Valencia that still has stripe-only lanes that run along the parked cars. In addition, Amable, Bornheimer, and others expressed concern about the decision to allow a small number of parklets to "float" away from the curb, channeling cyclists between the sidewalk and the parklet with the new lanes. They opined that this invites conflicts where cyclists would collide with dinners and restaurant staff moving across the bike lane between the parklet and the sidewalk. However, Stannis explained the design is similar to that used in Oakland and New York City. These incorporate a ramp in the bike lane leading up to the crossing. This forces cyclists to slow down as they approach the parklet connection (see image below).
Members of the board began to discuss issues with the design, when the proceedings were interrupted and delayed by a fire alarm. However, after their return almost an hour later and after some further discussion by the board to incorporate beautification into the plans, the rebuild was approved.
In addition, at the start of the meeting, it was formally announced that Amanda Eaken, Chair of the SFMTA board and a familiar face on the board for six years, had resigned to take a full-time position at the agency. From her post on LinkedIn:
With the change of mayoral administration in San Francisco, this felt like as good a time as any to step down and make space for other community members to contribute their time to SFMTA Board service.
The good news is that I am not going far. Serving on the SFMTA Board made me realize that I want to contribute more fully to improving transportation in our city. So I have applied for and have been offered a position at the SFMTA. I follow in the footsteps of SFMTA Acting Government Affairs Manager Joél Ramos, who served on the Board of Directors and then realized he wanted to serve the agency as a full-time member of the staff. I will be joining the Design Strategy and Delivery team within the Chief Strategy Office. I will write more about this news in a future post.
At the time of this writing, given the delay caused by the fire alarm, the SFMTA board had not yet completed its agenda. Also on the table was an update and potential approval of the agency's new citywide bike plan. Look for more in future posts and Streetsblog's daily headlines.
