Spinning its wheels: SFMTA abandons a disastrous, experimental center-lane bikeway
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SF Valencia St’s center-corridor bike lane took out parking places and made cyclists feel unsafe. To restore business to local merchants, SFMTA finally agreed to return the bike lane back to the sides of the road. But this won’t be cheap. The design, which might include dangerous “floating parklets,” will slash 79 more parking spots. Want left turns back? That’ll cost $1 million per intersection. The Voice of SF’s Gerald Chinn reports.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will scrap its Valencia Street center-running protected bike lane that was unpopular with merchants in favor of a curbside-protected bike lane.
…merchants along the commercial corridor over the past year, including those represented by the Valencia Corridor Merchants Association (VCMA), have demanded the SFMTA remove the center bike lane as they claim the project hurt businesses along the courier.
Manny Yekutiel, a former SFMTA board director and now president of VCMA, said he regretted the decision in approving the center-running bike lane pilot when he was on the board.
“I didn’t realize just how sensitive the ecosystems are for small businesses,” Yekutiel said during public comment. “My members have said they’ve lost a ton of business and I believe them.”
[Paul Stanis, the agency’s project manager] said the left-turn restrictions will remain but could be reinstated in the future if traffic signals are upgraded with new infrastructure so a left-turn phase can be added. It would require at least $1 million to do the traffic signal upgrades at each intersection, he said.
… The approved project will see a reduction in 79 parking and loading spaces, according to the SFMTA staff report.
Stanis said the left-turn restrictions will remain but could be reinstated in the future if traffic signals are upgraded with new infrastructure so a left-turn phase can be added. It would require at least $1 million to do the traffic signal upgrades at each intersection, he said.
Claire Amable with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition asked the SFMTA to put a moratorium on floating parklets for at least a year until those on Valencia Street are evaluated. Floating parklets are away from the curb while bicyclists travel closer to the curb.
Read the whole thing here.
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