Pedestrian Infrastructure

Update 12/19: DPW now has an online survey you can take about removing parking on the Marina path.

There's no telling where San Francisco Fire Chief Johanne Hayes-White got the patently false stats on pedestrian safety she cited to the SF Examiner yesterday. Hayes-White argued that the city shouldn't build proven pedestrian safety upgrades because most people hit by drivers while walking are to blame for their own injuries.

The vision for a block-long pedestrian plaza on Irving Street in the Inner Sunset is taking the next step, with the launch of a community-based study. Dubbed "Irving Commons," the plaza idea was warmly received by neighbors when it was presented two years ago at Inner Sunset Sundays, a street party organized four times per year on the block of Irving between Ninth and Tenth Avenues.

Over two-thirds of the space on Columbus Avenue is devoted primarily to cars, yet only one-third of the people on the street are typically in automobiles.

After public pressure, the City of Oakland held a second community meeting Wednesday about the design of the Latham Square pilot plaza, where a lane of car traffic was reinstated prematurely at the behest of Planning and Building Director Rachel Flynn. Despite a standing room-only crowd of attendees showing up to weigh in, the meeting was shut down 45 minutes early.

The SF Public Utilities Commission unveiled final redesign concepts last week for two projects that would mean more space for pedestrians and stormwater-absorbing greenery. One project will bring traffic-calming bulb-outs and "rain gardens" to the eastern stretch of Holloway Avenue, a major east-west bike route in Ingleside. The other would convert two traffic lanes at Mission and Valencia Streets into a new plaza with green bulb-outs that would extend to the entrance of the Tiffany bike boulevard, altogether creating what planners call a "Green Gateway."

Updated 11/14, 2:34 p.m. with response from Supervisor David Campos below.

A deadly stretch of Sixth Street received the city's first painted sidewalk extensions last week, created using low-cost, temporary materials to help make pedestrians more visible. The SFMTA implemented the pilot project between Market and Harrison Streets -- four blocks dense with residential hotels and shops -- to help curb injuries while the agency develops plans for a road diet.

It's not your imagination -- crosswalks around San Francisco are being upgraded more rapidly to the "continental" striping style, also known as "ladder" or "zebra-striped" crosswalks, to make people more visible to drivers when they're crossing the street.