Bicycle Infrastructure

In most of San Francisco's bike lanes, people are forced to ride between parked cars and moving cars. The looming threat of opening car doors and cars entering the bike lane is unsettling enough to keep many San Franciscans from riding a bike at all.

A list of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit projects that could be boosted by the voter-approved Prop B Street Improvement Bond is making its way through the city legislature, revealing how the $50 million dedicated to streetscape improvements may be divvied up.

A long-awaited bicycle connection linking Market Street to northbound Polk Street is on the horizon. The two southernmost blocks of Polk, which currently only allow southbound traffic, could get a protected contra-flow bike lane by this time next year.

Three months after San Francisco's first parking-protected bike lanes were striped on John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park, the street continues to thrive as a calmer, safer place all users. The flocks of people using the lanes this summer appear to include more families than ever, and by and large, drivers and pedestrians seem to have adapted well to the new configuration.

Planners presented early concepts for a new Market Street to the public yesterday, moving the discussion forward on revitalizing San Francisco's grand boulevard with features like car-free zones, raised bike lanes, faster transit, and more inviting public spaces.

A car driver plowed through a bike corral on Saturday in front of Zeitgeist, a bar on the corner of Duboce Avenue and Valencia Street. The driver reportedly stopped and cooperated with police after crashing through 10 of the 11 curbside bike racks, breaking a man's leg, and wrecking at least a dozen parked bikes, according to the Uptown Almanac, which posted photos of the carnage.

A new buffered bike lane was striped on 8th Street last week, re-purposing a traffic lane for bicycles on one of SoMa's fast, one-way motorways. The new configuration, which removes bicyclists from the door zone and provides a much wider lane, is an improvement over the four speed-inducing traffic lanes and skinny bike lane that previously existed. Still, many say it's just a small step toward a truly safer street.

Bike corrals are popping up so quickly around San Francisco, who can keep track anymore?

Advocates for a safer Second Street have released a new rendering showing how the street could function better for pedestrians and cyclists if a protected bike lane is included in the coming redesign.