Market Street

When Tim Tompkins took over as President of the Times Square Alliance, one of New York City's largest Business Improvement Districts (BIDs), the primary concerns were the security and cleanliness of the most iconic, if chaotic, public space in the world. Despite incessant traffic and pedestrian gridlock ("pedlock" to borrow Tompkin's phrase), his Board of Directors and city officials on the whole weren't initially interested in Tompkins' vision for transforming Times Square into a world-class public space, with less traffic and higher design concepts.

Building off Jane Jacob's maxim that more eyes on a street make the street feel safer, the San Francisco Arts Commission has commissioned numerous artists to display their projects in abandoned storefronts as part of the Art in Storefronts program, and as the photo above illustrates, some of those eyes are literally watching you.

It's been half a century since the "roar of the four" streetcar lines dominated Market Street, but with the Market Street traffic diversion trial in effect today, trains and buses reasserted themselves over automobiles as the uncontested dominant vehicles on the city's main thoroughfare. With eastbound automobiles forced to turn right at 6th and 8th Streets, the roar of the four subterranean transit tracks - BART and Muni Metro - was easily audible in certain spots. For the first time, subways, streetcars, and buses included, San Franciscans could hear the roar of the eight.

Although there are still some kinks that need to be ironed out on Market Street to make the six-week trial diversion of personal automobiles more efficient, the sky did not fall and reaction to the changes was fairly positive, even from drivers in personal vehicles. One consistent complaint was the relatively small signs affixed to street posts, which several drivers claimed they didn't see.

Following the lead of Streetsblog NYC, we're off today in observance of Yom Kippur, though we remind you that your bike commute to work down Market Street tomorrow morning will be quite different than today, should you be riding. With the trial to impose mandatory right turns for private automobiles traveling eastbound at 8th and 6th Streets, your Muni ride might be better, too. At a minimum, pedestrians shopping at Westfield should see a big difference! For more information on the closure, be sure to go over to the Better Market Street website.