Traffic Calming

An effort to revamp conditions on Polk Street for walking, socializing, bicycling, and transit is underway by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, and residents say they're eager to see calmer motor traffic, wider sidewalks, better bike lanes and more public space along the corridor.

A plan for sweeping safety improvements on deadly Masonic Avenue was unanimously approved by the SF Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors yesterday. It's the final decision needed to move the project forward, though the SFMTA says planners still need to finalize the design and secure funding before it's implemented. The agency doesn't have a timeline for that yet, but construction is likely still a couple years off.

Safety improvements are coming to Ortega Street in the Outer Sunset to calm the street for students and parents walking and biking to AP Giannini Middle School and Sunset Elementary School, as well as the stretch next to the Sunset Reservoir.

Last summer, we wrote about a package of overdue streetscape improvements planned for the neighborhood around McCoppin Street, which would include a public gathering space called the McCoppin Hub adjacent to the Central Freeway.

Updated 6:57 p.m.

A list of pedestrian, bicycle, and transit projects that could be boosted by the voter-approved Prop B Street Improvement Bond is making its way through the city legislature, revealing how the $50 million dedicated to streetscape improvements may be divvied up.

Josh Calder, who killed 22-year-old bicyclist Nils Yannick Linke in a drunk driving hit-and-run on Masonic Avenue nearly two years ago, was sentenced yesterday to one year in county jail followed by five years of probation. If he violates that probation, he will serve another eight years in state prison.

A car driver plowed through a bike corral on Saturday in front of Zeitgeist, a bar on the corner of Duboce Avenue and Valencia Street. The driver reportedly stopped and cooperated with police after crashing through 10 of the 11 curbside bike racks, breaking a man's leg, and wrecking at least a dozen parked bikes, according to the Uptown Almanac, which posted photos of the carnage.

A new buffered bike lane was striped on 8th Street last week, re-purposing a traffic lane for bicycles on one of SoMa's fast, one-way motorways. The new configuration, which removes bicyclists from the door zone and provides a much wider lane, is an improvement over the four speed-inducing traffic lanes and skinny bike lane that previously existed. Still, many say it's just a small step toward a truly safer street.