Traffic Calming

SFMTA staff approved a measure today to lower speed limits on Harrison and Bryant Streets form 30 MPH to 25 MPH in the South of Market (SoMa) District.

Eight years ago, the Central Freeway fell, and the sky didn't. The neighborhood long obscured by the structure came up for a year-long breath of air during its reconstruction.

Residents just north of the Mission District who have lived in the shadow of the Central Freeway are beginning to see a glimmer of light. The city appears poised to move ahead with plans to bring street improvements and green space to the area, including a public plaza at the end of McCoppin Street that abuts the Octavia freeway onramp.

52-year-old Dr. Kevin Mack was killed while riding a UCSF shuttle van at about 6:20 am this morning when it crashed with a big rig truck at the intersection of Octavia Boulevard and Oak Street, said San Francisco Police Lt. Troy Dangerfield.

Roughly half of the more than 200 schools proposed to have speed limits reduced to 15 MPH on surrounding streets were quickly approved at an SFMTA hearing today. The rest are expected to be approved at another hearing in three weeks before heading to the full SFMTA Board of Directors for final approval.

The SFMTA striped new bike lanes on Phelan Avenue last week, providing a safer route for commuters, residents, and students at City College of San Francisco and Riordan High School in the Sunnyside neighborhood.

Just days before bike lanes were scheduled to be striped on eastern Cesar Chavez Street, an SFMTA staffer told a group of neighbors, advocates and others at a community meeting last night that the plan to replace one of the street's travel lanes was being scrapped. City Hall sources told Streetsblog the order came from the Mayor's Office, which was responding to last-minute concerns from industrial businesses worried about reducing road capacity for trucks.

Folsom and Howard Streets in the South of Market (SoMa) district will see speed limits lowered from 30 miles an hour to 25 after SFMTA staff approved the change at a hearing today, marking a small step towards safer streets in the city.

Making eye contact with a driver while walking across an intersection is important, but what if a driver's line of vision is obscured by cars parked within a few feet of a crosswalk?