Market Street

The SFMTA recently made some upgrades to bike lanes and pedestrian crossings around Valencia Street and Market Street.

Last week, the SFMTA presented its proposal to ban private auto drivers from turning onto Market Street, between Third and Eighth Streets. The move would be complemented with extended transit-only lanes, plus a new system of wayfinding signs aimed at keeping drivers off of Market.

San Franciscans may take it for granted, but to most Americans, the volume of bike traffic on Market Street resembles a Critical Mass ride more than a weekday rush hour. SF's main thoroughfare regularly sees more than 3,000 people ride by the bike counter on weekdays at Market and Eighth Streets -- and that's just in one direction. It may still be a ways away from matching Copenhagen's busiest streets, and it doesn't have raised bike lanes yet, but it's definitely one of the highest concentrations of bike commuters you can find in this country.

In case you're wondering why the left-turn "jug handle" connecting bike commuters on Market to Valencia Street suddenly disappeared behind construction barricades, we've got the answer. The "bike bay" is being re-built with granite curbs, replacing the original concrete curbs with materials that better match the rest of Market Street.

The first segment of Market Street's transit-only lanes was colored red this weekend, on the eastbound side between Fifth and Sixth Streets.

Despite calls for more measures to get cars off of Market Street, and the benefits brought by the forced turns already put in place, the SFMTA still has yet to propose any new restrictions on private autos.

Just wanted to drop some fun nuggets in here for fans while I've been on vacation in the Bay Area.

In a continued push for a car-free Market Street, SFMTA board member Malcom Heinicke urged the agency to not waste time and money on phasing in more forced turn restrictions, instead calling for a full ban on private autos on lower Market.

In case you were wondering what would become of the newly empty curb space at Market and 10th Streets, where the traffic lane stripings were re-configured over the weekend, it turns out the SFMTA plans to put a bike-share station there.