Balboa Park Station Area Plan

A city proposal for Ocean and Geneva Avenues would do little to make bicycling safer and more comfortable between the Balboa Park BART and Muni station and destinations west of City College's main campus, say bike advocates. While plans to add bulb-outs and tame the hairy Ocean and Geneva intersection would make the streets somewhat safer, overall, the car-centric status quo wouldn't change significantly.

City planners are shaping up plans for Ocean Avenue, following public workshops that will help develop a vision for both near-term and long-term improvements. The near-term plans, for the commercial stretch of Ocean west of Phelan Avenue and the City College campus, are far along in their development. Meanwhile, a long-term plan for the remainder of the avenue, stretching eastward to the Balboa Park BART Station, is still in its earlier stages.

Balboa Park Station could become a safer transit hub by 2020 if the city moves forward with proposals to close one freeway ramp and re-align another, as recommended in a study recently completed by the SF County Transportation Authority. Although the proposal hasn't received much public attention, it's sure to face a tough political fight when it's eventually implemented, said D11 Supervisor John Avalos, who chairs the SFCTA. Avalos said the project is worth implementing, and he's eager to champion the plans as soon as they can move forward.

Balboa Park may be a major transit hub for BART and Muni, but it's hard to tell as you approach the station, which is surrounded by dangerous roads swarming with car traffic moving to and from six nearby freeway ramps. The design of the area around the station -- not to mention the 24,000 people who use it daily -- feels like an afterthought to a freeway exit.

BART riders will no longer be squeezed alongside Muni tracks to get into Balboa Park Station. A new walkway connecting travelers to Ocean Avenue on the north side was unveiled Friday as one project in a host of efforts aimed at improving access to the busiest BART and Muni transit hub outside of the city's downtown area, though it may be just a baby step in the eyes of some advocates.

A proposal to reconfigure the Phelan Bus Loop as part of the Balboa Park Station Area Plan received a major boost today with the announcement that the Federal Transit Administration has awarded the SFMTA more than $6.8 million for the project.

The MTA Board will vote tomorrow on whether to sell a bus turnaround near Balboa Park station to make room for an 80-unit affordable housing and retail mixed-use development and new open space. The Balboa Park Station Area Plan, which was completed earlier this year and aims to promote transit-oriented development and improved pedestrians conditions in the neighborhood, identified the Phelan Bus Loop at Ocean Avenue between Lee and Harold Avenues as a prime spot for redevelopment.

BART held a groundbreaking ceremony today for a project that will bring a new entrance and accessible walkway to Balboa Park station. The Westside Entrance and Walkway project is intended to improve access to the station for the approximately 5,000 daily riders approaching from Ocean Avenue west of Interstate 280, including students from San Francisco City College and Lick-Wilmerding High School. The station is the busiest non-downtown stop in the BART system, with 13,000 daily riders.