Bike Lanes

Safe bike lanes and pedestrian crossings should be top priorities in the redesign of Second Street. That was the major sentiment at a community meeting on Wednesday, where city staffers rebooting the faltered Second Street Improvement Project asked attendees how they would re-envision the corridor.

Last week, KTVU 2 reporter David Stevenson drove down Valencia Street, yelling at bicycle riders through the window of his motor vehicle, asking where their helmets were. He even brought a camera crew to film it -- oddly enough, in the name of bicycle safety.

This year's celebration of the Dutch Queen's Day in San Francisco was a bit special.

The SFMTA striped new bike lanes on Folsom Street between 13th and 19th Streets last week, creating a safer and more direct connection for bike commuters between SoMa and the Mission.

Bike network expansions are going in at a rapid clip so far this spring. In Golden Gate Park, parking-protected bike lanes on John F. Kennedy Drive are mostly finished on the stretch in front of the Conservatory of Flowers, and drivers already seem to be picking up on the new parking arrangement.

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

Two bike corridors connecting the city's southeastern neighborhoods should be safer after crews finish constructing buffered bike lanes on eastern Cesar Chavez Street and a two-way protected bikeway on Cargo Way.

An SFMTA panel approved a safer bike lane plan for the intersection of Cesar Chavez and Evans Streets for recommendation to the agency's Board of Directors today, marking a key milestone for short-term improvements on the street's eastern section. The plan, which was chosen over an alternative that would have forced bicyclists to merge with trucks, is expected to receive final approval in the coming weeks with implementation to follow in late March.

Safety enhancements for Eastern Cesar Chavez Street are coming together after staff from the SFMTA and the SF Planning Department presented project plans at an open house last week. The near-term improvements include buffered bike lanes with soft-hit posts, while the long-term vision would add a two-way protected bikeway and wider sidewalks.