Livable Streets Look Back 2021

Livable Streets Look Back 2021
By Eillie Anzilotti

How We Made San Francisco Streets Safer In 2021

As 2021 comes to an end, we're reflecting on everything SFMTA has done to make San Francisco streets safer for all.

But first, let’s wind back 50 years ago to 1971: the year the first bike lanes went in in San Francisco! The city’s first bike lanes on Lake Street came out of a community effort to calm traffic and make the neighborhood safer.

There’s an often-quoted expression that “change happens slowly, then all at once.” For San Francisco safe streets, 2021 is certainly in the “all at once” phase. Fifty years after the first bike lanes were installed in the city, we’re continuing to push the boundaries of what safe streets can look like in San Francisco. Here’s a look at some key progress from this past year:

Transforming the Tenderloin: In a neighborhood where every street is on the city’s Vision Zero High-Injury Network, we implemented a suite of projects to make the whole area safer. Some highlights:

Two Vision Zero Quick-Build projects: On Golden Gate Avenue, a new protected bike lane was added along with improved curb access for businesses, and Leavenworth was reduced from three travel lanes to two to promote safer speeds.
Pedestrian scrambles—which stop traffic in all directions to make it safer for everyone to cross—were implemented at 10 intersections
In a San Francisco first, 20 mph speed limits and No Turn on Red restrictions were implemented neighborhood-wide to improve safety.
Several COVID-19 response projects have evolved into permanent community features. A physical distancing lane on Jones Street, implemented to give people more space to walk during the pandemic, was turned into a permanent travel lane reduction on the street to calm traffic. A weekly block closure on Turk Street to provide place for gathering and recreating is now Turk Street Safe Passage Park, a full-time street closure that welcomes nearly 100 visitors a day and provides a new public space for the community. These street transformations in the Tenderloin were implemented with collaboration and support from local partners, like Code Tenderloin and the Tenderloin Community Benefit District Safe Passage Program.

A person rides a bike along the new protected bike lane on Golden Gate Avenue. The lane is painted green, and there are plastic buffer posts between the lane and the parked cars that separate it from traffic. Overhead, a golden-colored sign with 20 on it indicates the new 20 mile per hour speed limits throughout the Tenderloin.

Adding Quick-Builds in the Bayview: After the Bayview Community-Based Transportation Plan was approved by the SMFTA Board in 2020, the first projects were installed this year. Two quick-build projects to improve safety conditions in the Bayview–one on Williams Avenue and one on Evans/Hunters Point/Innes–were completed, along with spot improvements like continental crosswalks. The Quick-Build on Hunters Point Boulevard features concrete barriers painted with murals by local artists.

Expanding San Francisco’s bike network: Over 12 miles of new bike facilities, including 7 miles of new protected bike lanes, were added across the city. Some highlights include a new two-way bikeway on Alemany Boulevard, and a protected bike lane as part of the Folsom Street Quick-Build in SOMA. Nearly five miles of Anza Street have been updated with bikeway markings, speed cushions, and a travel-lane reduction to encourage safer speeds and create an important east-west bike route through the Richmond. You can read more about (and see!) how much San Francisco’s bike network has grown in the last several years in this blog post.

Construction crews striping Anza Street with new bike lanes next to a row of parked cars. The fresh bike lanes are on both sides of the street; there’s a construction truck with cones parked on the left, and cars moving in both directions in the background.

Evolving Slow Streets: Slow Streets have evolved from an emergency response to COVID-19 to one of the SFMTA’s most efficient ways to transform city streets to promote walking, biking, and rolling. In August, the first four post-pandemic Slow Streets–Sanchez, Shotwell, Lake, and Golden Gate–were approved to be extended beyond the pandemic. Sanchez and Shotwell are fully implemented with unique designs informed by extensive community outreach.

Setting records for traffic calming: The traffic-calming program installed over 233 traffic calming devices across the city–the most ever completed in a year. Traffic calming devices like speed humps, speed cushions, and raised crosswalks make any street safer, and the team worked quickly and efficiently to respond to resident requests for safer conditions on their streets.

Thank you to everyone in the community who has advocated for, championed, and made use of these projects across the city. We look forward to continuing to make San Francisco streets safer in 2022!

Published December 20, 2021 at 09:24PM
https://ift.tt/3GZ9NiN

Comments

New top story from Time: Angry Youths Rattle Spain in Support of Jailed Catalan Rapper Pablo Hasel

https://ift.tt/2NUGSpC BARCELONA, Spain — The imprisonment of a rap artist for his music and tweets praising terrorist violence and insulting the Spanish monarchy has set off a powder keg of pent-up rage this week in the southern European country. The arrest of Pablo Hasél has brought thousands to the streets for different reasons. Under the banner of freedom of expression, many Spaniards strongly object to putting an artist behind bars for his lyrics and social media remarks. They are clamoring for Spain’s left-wing government to fulfill its promise and roll back the Public Security Law passed by the previous conservative administration that was used to prosecute Hasél and other artists. Hasél’s imprisonment to serve a nine-month sentence on Tuesday has also tapped into a well of frustration among Spain’s youths, who have the highest unemployment rate in the European Union. Four in every 10 eligible workers under 25 years old are without a job. “I think that what we ...

New top story from Time: How Facebook’s Australia News Ban Could Hamper Vaccine Rollout to Aboriginal People

https://ift.tt/37E8rL1 The COVID-19 vaccine rollout was never going to be easy in Australia’s sparsely populated, desert-covered Northern Territory. With many small towns located hours apart by road, organizers even considered using drones and dry ice to make deliveries. But the vaccination campaign is facing an even greater uphill battle after Facebook removed news content across the country of 25 million on Feb. 18 following a battle over a bill that would force Big Tech companies to pay for the use of news stories. The ban also swept up Indigenous media organizations, meaning that Aboriginal people, who make up more than 25% of the region’s population may not have access to reliable information about vaccinations. Many Aboriginal people rely on Facebook as a portal to the Internet. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Facebook has become “a primary vehicle for promoting health information to remote Aboriginal communities,” says Malarndirri McCarthy , a senator in the Northe...

New top story from Time: How a Belarusian Teacher and Stay-at-Home Mom Came to Lead a National Revolt

https://ift.tt/3bD4WG2 On a hot summer day last August, Svetlana Tikhanovskaya was pacing up and down her empty apartment in Minsk, the capital of Belarus in Central Europe, her life—and her country—in turmoil. With her husband in jail, she had sent her two small children out of the country, to safety, and she now faced a stark choice, bluntly handed to her by the nation’s hard-line security forces: flee into exile herself, or face arrest. “I had a couple of hours, but I could not pack anything, because I was so overstressed,” she recalls. “It was a shock. I was not prepared for this.” Indeed, it is hard to imagine how Tikhanovskaya could have prepared for the jolting transformation of her life. Within the space of a few months, she emerged from obscurity to become the leader of Belarus’ biggest revolt in decades, determined to bring down President Alexander Lukashenko, who has ruled the former Soviet republic with an iron hand for more than 26 years as what many call Euro...

New top story from Time: President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines Has Changed His Mind About Scrapping a U.S. Security Pact

https://ift.tt/3fe21WW MANILA, Philippines — Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has retracted a decision to end a key defense pact with the United States, allowing large-scale combat exercises between U.S. and Philippine forces that at times have alarmed China to proceed. Duterte’s decision was announced Friday by Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana in a joint news conference with visiting U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin in Manila. It was a step back from the Philippine leader’s stunning vow early in his term to distance himself from Washington as he tried to rebuild frayed ties with China over territorial rifts in the South China Sea. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “The president decided to recall or retract the termination letter for the VFA,” Lorenzana told reporters after an hour-long meeting with Austin, referring to the Visiting Forces Agreement. “There is no termination letter pending and we are back on track.” Austin thanked Duterte for the decision, which he sai...

New top story from Time: ‘I Will Cry When I Deliver That Last Yogurt.’ Small Ranch Owners Are Selling Their Herds For Lack of Water

https://ift.tt/3l9IavO Gail Ansley delivered her final batch of homemade Picabo Desert Farms goat yogurt to Atkinson’s Market in Hailey, ID two weeks ago. As usual, each 16-oz unit of rich, creamy goat’s milk yogurt was packaged in a plain plastic container with a simple disclaimer stuck to the lid: “We know this label isn’t Chic, but the Yogurt inside is the best you’ll Eat!” it proudly proclaims . The ingredients: raw goat milk, culture, and sometimes gourmet vanilla bean paste sourced from nearby Boise, or fresh lemon curd, or peach jam. But this chapter is all over: she sold her last goat, a Nigerian dwarf named Kea, the weekend before. Kea was the final remaining animal in Ansley’s hundred-plus goat herd, which she grew and raised over the past six years on her small farm in Richfield, ID. “ And I will cry when I deliver that last yogurt tomorrow, ” Ansley says over the phone, audibly tearing up. “ When we started, my husband had a pickup truck and a camper, that’s wha...

New top story from Time: U.S. Lawmaker Wants to Ban Booze ‘To Go’ at Airports Amid Surge in Unruly Passengers

https://ift.tt/3kExvs4 Limiting the sale of “to-go” alcohol at airports and creation of an industrywide no-fly list are among the steps that may be needed to help stem the epidemic of air rage incidents on airline flights. But disagreements over which ones to pursue emerged at an often contentious U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing Thursday that also highlighted the deep divide among industry sectors and the emotional politics surrounding mask requirements during travel. While most lawmakers decried the surge in unruly passenger incidents some Republican lawmakers attacked what they called hypocritical policies by the Biden administration and criticized airlines for enforcing the mask rule. Democrats, in turn, said lax standards in some states contributed to the problem. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] “I would agree totally that there are mixed messages out there and that it’s confusing to the public and at times makes it very difficult for f...

5 dead as two boats capsize in Bengal's Murshidabad https://ift.tt/3jwj3yN

At least five people were killed after two boats capsized in West Bengal on Monday. According to the police, the incident was reported from Murshidabad in the state, where two country boats capsized in a water body. The bodies of those dead were later fished out of Dumni water body, a senior police officer said.

Trump’s nominee Amy Coney Barrett confirmed as Supreme Court justice in partisan vote https://ift.tt/35zb3rW

Amy Coney Barrett was confirmed to the Supreme Court late Monday by a deeply divided Senate, with Republicans overpowering Democrats to install President Donald Trump’s nominee days before the election and secure a likely conservative court majority for years to come.

Upset on app ban, China urges India to restore normal trade relations https://ift.tt/2UZaL8L

China on Wednesday urged the government to restore the trade relations for mutual benefit. The development comes after reports of China being upset by India's latest ban on 43 Chinese mobile applications. According to an official statement issued by the Chinese embassy in New Delhi, "China and India are the opportunities of development to each other rather than threats. Both sides should bring bilateral economic and trade relations back to the right path for mutual benefit and win-win results on the basis of dialogue and negotiation."

NASA confirms presence of water on sunlit surface of Moon https://ift.tt/3osteYN

NASA's Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) has confirmed the presence of water on the sunlit surface of the Moon. In a statement, the American space agency has said this discovery indicates that water may be distributed across the lunar surface, and not limited to cold, shadowed places. On Monday, a scientist from NASA had said though the moon lacks the bodies of liquid water that are a hallmark of Earth, the lunar water is more widespread than previously known, with water molecules trapped within mineral grains on the surface and more water is perhaps hidden in ice patches residing in permanent shadows.

My precise view

Search This Blog