Connecting the City

The SFMTA revealed the design [PDF] for protected bike lanes on three blocks of Fell and Oak Streets at an open house on Saturday. The plan would create a safer connection from the Panhandle to the Wiggle by installing a one-way buffered bike lane on each street, partially separated from motor traffic by planters. The proposal would also paint green markings where bike traffic merges with turning motor traffic, re-calibrate the traffic signals for 20 MPH movement, construct pedestrian bulb-outs and zebra-striped crosswalks, and add angled car parking spaces (mostly on Baker Street) to replace over half of those removed to make way for the bikeways.

The SFMTA will reveal the proposed design for protected bike lanes on Fell and Oak Streets tomorrow, and supporters need to make their voices heard to ensure the agency doesn't water the project down or it delay it any further.

Crews have placed preliminary road markings for the coming re-design of JFK Drive in front of the Conservatory of Flowers.

New York City has raised the bar in recent years for rolling out bicycle improvements and reclaiming public space from automobiles. While San Franciscans have come to expect major delays for bike projects as the norm in their city, New York, the only American city more dense than SF, has zoomed ahead by adding roughly 20 miles of protected bike lanes since 2007, with more on the way. After each new NYC bikeway is built, injuries to all users decline and bicycling increases along the corridor.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition is asking members what kind of improvements they'd like to see to enhance safety and the public realm on Polk Street.

After repeated delays and some intermittent rain, the SFMTA has apparently begun construction of the city's first parking-protected bikeway on John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park. The center lane striping appeared mostly grinded off on the western section of the road yesterday from Transverse Drive just past Stow Lake Drive. Construction equipment also sat at a spot where some digging had begun, possibly for drain work or curb ramps. The SFMTA has said it should be finished in March, weather permitting.

Update: These orange bollards spotted in the parking lanes on JFK near Transverse Drive are a promising sign.