Michael Rhodes

San Francisco's first green bike box can no longer be mistaken for just a car-sized strip of green paint: this morning, DPT crews stenciled in a bicycle symbol to indicate to cars that the green box on Scott Street at Oak is for bikes only. In marked contrast to the pre-stencil bike box, the new stencil seemed to help most drivers understand that they're required to wait behind the box during red lights. Only a few scofflaws ignored the bike box, often stopping behind it initially and then rolling into it - often with cell phones pressed against their ears.

More headlines at Streetsblog Capitol Hill.

With California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger poised to raid transit funds yet again, and the MTA facing a mid-year budget in the tens of millions, it's looking increasingly likely that the December 2009 service changes will soon look relatively benign compared to what lies ahead.

Start the new year right with a packed week of livable streets events that span the spectrum from national monuments to Web 2.0. Here are the highlights: Tuesday: Learning from Washington D.C.: Monumental planning and thriving TODs. Find out how Washington D.C. is planning for its next 100 years, and how the region’s suburban transit … Continued

Editor's note: Today, we introduce the first installment in an occasional series of profiles of Muni riders and the lines they ride.

A 54-year-old San Francisco woman was sent to the hospital with life-threatening injuries this morning after being hit by a driver at the intersection of Van Ness Avenue and Grove Street near San Francisco City Hall. The victim, whose name has not yet been released, was undergoing surgery this afternoon.

A 68-year-old Palo Alto man riding his bicycle was struck and killed by the driver of a Caltrans vehicle heading westbound on the Hillsdale Boulevard overpass of Highway 101 in San Mateo this morning. The Caltrans employee was on duty at the time.

More headlines over at Streetsblog Capitol Hill

A driver traveling at a high speed without headlights on struck and seriously injured a pedestrian on Columbus near the intersection of Grant early this morning. The pedestrian, a 56-year-old male San Francisco resident, suffered life-threatening injuries and is still in the hospital, according to Sgt. Wilfred Williams, an SFPD spokesperson.

The stretch of Broadway between Columbus Avenue and the Robert C. Levy tunnel is an unheralded segment of San Francisco's Chinatown: storefront after storefront of neighborhood shops and restaurants, with far fewer tourists than Grant Avenue or Stockton Street. But its streetscape, though lively with pedestrians during the day, maintains much the same look it had when the Embarcadero Freeway still touched down several blocks to the east, funneling cars through the neighborhood via Broadway's four lanes of traffic, as pedestrians squeeze onto 12-foot-wide sidewalks.