Bicycle Infrastructure

At the city's second community meeting to discuss Masonic Avenue streetscape improvements, attendees debated options for redesigning the street from its current configuration into what could be one a model complete street. There was consensus among the roughly 70 community members in attendance that the thoroughfare from Geary Boulevard to Fell Street needs significant work, and among various problems, the most pressing were lack of enforcement of speeding, slow transit, a history of crashes and overall lack of vitality.

After nearly four years of legal wrangling, San Francisco Superior Court Judge Peter Busch lifted the city's bike injunction this afternoon, freeing the SFMTA to begin working on implementing the remaining projects in the Bike Plan, and soundly rejecting the objections made by plaintiff Rob Anderson and his attorney Mary Miles.

In its best attempt yet to prevent drivers from obstructing the bike lane on a troubled section of Fell Street, alongside the Arco station, the SFMTA painted the lane green today, along with the dashed lane from mid-block to Divisadero Street, as part of its new configuration. Michael Helquist of BIKE NOPA had the story up first this morning, and said the Fell entrance to the Arco station was closed for the morning and early afternoon.

Berkeley cyclists and BART staff celebrated the grand opening of the new Berkeley Bike Station yesterday at 2208 Shattuck Avenue, one of the largest enclosed bicycle stations in the country and just steps from Downtown Berkeley BART.

Recognizing the need to educate easily confused drivers on the new configuration at the troubled intersection of Fell Street at Divisadero, alongside the Arco station, the SFMTA has sent out a two-person team of interns to explain to drivers that they shouldn't obstruct the bike lane while waiting to turn left to get gas. In addition to the curbside talk, the interns are handing drivers this flyer (PDF).

This interview originally appeared on the SFBC's blog.

What does San Francisco's retired top traffic engineer think about Market Street, Muni and global warming? We sat down with Jack Fleck recently for an extended interview. The 62-year-old retired last week after more than 25 years with the former Department of Parking and Traffic and the current San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA).

The attorneys on both sides in San Francisco's four-year-old bike injunction saga have filed their proposed orders with Judge Peter J. Busch, documents he requested at a recent hearing that will inform his final decision on whether to lift the frustrating legal hold on the Bike Plan.

The near total reconstruction of Valencia Street between 15th and 19th Streets in The Mission over the past year has seemed at times maddening to those who use the street, no matter what mode. From ripped up sidewalks to ripped up pavement, the area has been a construction zone for nearly a year now, causing businesses to bemoan the lack of sidewalks, forcing pedestrians to shimmy along the narrow strips of plywood and concrete that has passed for temporary sidewalks, and leading cyclists to dodge construction vehicles while navigating grooved pavement and large ruts.