Market Street

In an alternate universe, the streetcar tracks that line the center of Market Street would have become car parking.

Nearly two weeks in, the bans preventing private auto drivers from turning on to most of lower Market Street have, by all accounts, made the street safer and more efficient.

Record-breaking bicycle traffic on Market Street nearly broke the 100,000 threshold in July, according to the bike counter on SF's most heavily-pedaled thoroughfare. Last month, 99,461 people were counted in the bike lane on eastbound Market at Ninth Street, topping the previous record of 97,302 in March.

Private auto drivers will be banned from turning on to Market Street between Third and Eighth streets after the restrictions were approved unanimously by the SFMTA Board of Directors yesterday.

You can email public comments on the "Safer Market Street" car restrictions to the SFMTA board at MTABoard@sfmta.com.

The SFMTA will hold an open house tomorrow on bike and pedestrian safety upgrades along upper Market Street, which could include bulb-outs to calm the street's wide, dangerous intersections and protected bike lanes on some segments.

The Market Street bike counter tallied 97,302 people rolling by in March -- the highest monthly total yet. Last year, the monthly count rose steadily until October, so bike ridership on Market is expected to keep breaking records. April could be the first month to break the 100,000 threshold.

The SFMTA plans to install three more bicycle counters with digital displays on busy biking streets. They will be placed "at visible locations on high volume bicycle corridors," though the exact spots haven't been finalized, according to a city planning document. "Potential locations include Market Street, Valencia Street, and the Embarcadero."

Police were seen ticketing people on bikes navigating a poorly-designed junction at the dangerous Market Street and Octavia Boulevard intersection yesterday in the latest "People Behaving Badly" segment from KRON 4's Stanley Roberts.