The Lasting Legacy of the 1913 Bion Arnold Report

The Lasting Legacy of the 1913 Bion Arnold Report
By Jeremy Menzies

Looking back at San Francisco’s transportation history, one study from 1913 has impacted the city’s transit system for over 100 years. Commissioned by city officials, the “Report on the Improvement and Development of the Transportation Facilities of San Francisco” by engineer Bion J. Arnold, is a comprehensive study of transit in the city. The 450-page report covers everything from rush hour congestion to plans for a Market Street subway. This document is essential to understanding our city’s transportation history and some of its recommendations are still in use today.

Black and white overhead view of street with horse-drawn and electric streetcars, horse drawn wagons, pedestrians, and buildings. Business signage includes Patrick and Company and Fly Trap.

This 1910 view of Market and Sutter streets shows just some of the complex issues that the Arnold report addressed.

Building Muni

One section of the report is entirely dedicated to specifications for building and improving the city’s cable and street cars. Muni’s very first streetcars, frequently called “Arnold” cars, were specified based on construction cost, passenger comfort, ease of operation, and even the unique climate of San Francisco. Today, historic Streetcar 1 is one of these streetcars that still runs in special service.

front and side view of old-style streetcar. Route reads "A". Headsign reads "Ferries". Sign reads "Enter at rear". Car is branded "Municipal Railway".

This photo of one of Muni’s first streetcars was used on page 178 of the report and shows the open end sections, boarding platforms, and “automatic” ventilation features specified by Arnold.

In addition to the vehicles, Muni’s earliest lines, and service to the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition, were all directly influenced by the report. Versions of the A, B, C, E, F and H streetcar lines all appear in the report. It also influenced later lines like the J, K, L, and M.

group of people walking away from streetcar. car is headsigned "Exposition".

Passengers alight from a Muni streetcar at the 1915 world’s fair. Arnold dedicated an entire section of the report to discussing service to the fair, which was provided by Muni and the United Railroads Co.

Tunnels & Streets

The report also detailed several tunnels and street changes throughout the city meant to speed travel across town. Of the more than ten tunneling projects proposed, the Stockton Street, Twin Peaks, and Sunset tunnels were all built by 1930. The Broadway tunnel followed in the early 1950s.

cable car in foreground with excavation, bulldozer, and tunnel entrance in background. car is branded "Municipal Railway" and signed "Powell and Mason streets".

A cable car on Mason Street passes by the Broadway Tunnel, still under construction in this 1951 shot.

Among the street changes proposed, the extension of Market Street over Twin Peaks was perhaps the largest. This extension was built alongside the Twin Peaks Tunnel in 1917-18.

Improving and Expanding Transit

Arnold also called for a consolidated transit system and a subway under Market Street, both of which were achieved by the mid-20th Century. In 1944, voters approved the purchase of the Market Street Railway Company, the largest transit operator in SF. This merger unified public transit service under Muni. Instead of navigating two competing services, riders finally had a one-fare ride to virtually anywhere in town. Consolidation also allowed improvements to be made across the system.

Drawing of subway station showing streetcars, platforms, signage, people and tracks. Drawing is titled "Track level in typical station. Proposed San Francisco subway. Public Utilities Commission." Signs in drawing read "Fifth Street" as station name, directional signs reading "To 5th Street", "Exit to 5th", "To Powell Street". Streetcar headsign reads "Ocean Avenue".

Bion Arnold’s Market Street subway plans were just one of many ideas floated over the years. This drawing from 1937 shows a proposed subway station at Powell and Market streets.

Arnold’s report is one of the earliest documents to include clear plans for a Market Street subway. 50 years later when Bay Area voters approved general obligation bonds to build BART & Muni Metro, elements of Arnold’s subway showed up in the design.

Ongoing Legacy

Even today, suggestions from the report can be found in the SFMTA’s Muni Forward and Vision Zero Quick Build programs. Moving and consolidating stops, increasing boarding area size, building transit boarding islands, and all-door boarding are all mentioned in the 1913 document.

street-level transit platform with train and people waiting

A common sight today, double-length platforms and two-car trains like those pictured here were just two improvements to transit service recommended by the Arnold report.

The Arnold report is one of the most extensive studies of transportation in San Francisco. 109 years later, many of the changes recommended by the report have become normal parts of our streets and transit system.

Published June 30, 2022 at 07:29AM
https://ift.tt/oVulUQO

Comments

New top story from Time: These Moms Work as Doctors and Scientists. But They’ve Also Taken On Another Job: Fighting COVID-19 Misinformation Online

https://ift.tt/3tT3UwO Last March, friends and neighbors began stopping Emily Smith in her town outside of Waco, Texas, with questions about the coronavirus. An epidemiologist at Baylor University, Smith knows all too well how viruses are transmitted. But as the wife of a pastor and as a woman of faith, she also holds a trusted position in her community, and she would speak to those who asked about why she personally thought social distancing was a moral choice. As the weeks wore on, the questions kept coming: “What does flatten the curve mean?” “Is it safe for my child to kick a soccer ball outside with a friend?” So she started a Facebook page and called herself the Friendly Neighbor Epidemiologist. She adopted “Love thy neighbor” as the page’s credo. Smith wrote from the perspective of a scientist but also a wife and mother. She recently explained, for example, why churches should still continue to refrain from holding in-person services even though Texas has lifted i...

Enhancing Safety on Franklin Street

Enhancing Safety on Franklin Street By Mark Dreger We're excited to share an update on the Franklin Street Quick-Build Project, an effort to enhance traffic safety on Franklin Street between Broadway and Lombard Streets. This roadway stretch was the site of 38 collisions between 2017 and 2021, including the tragic loss of a Sherman Elementary School paraeducator in November 2021. Our data-driven approach focuses on several key safety improvements, and we are ready to share the evaluation results and the next steps to bring further safety changes to Franklin Street. The project includes the implementation of a suite of safety measures focused on the intersections where neighborhood stakeholders expressed most concerns during the outreach process. Painted safety zones (PSZs) have been installed to increase pedestrian visibility at crosswalks by keeping the corners of intersections clear. Slow-turn wedges have been added to encourage drivers to turn at safer speeds...

Gene Henderson: Honoring Muni’s First Black Division Manager

Gene Henderson: Honoring Muni’s First Black Division Manager By Jeremy Menzies In recognition of Black History Month, we bring you the story of Gene Henderson, the first Black man to become the head of a Muni bus division, Muni’s Kirkland Division. Henderson’s Background Gene Henderson was born in Houston, Texas, in 1916. He married his wife Naomi in 1939 and then served in the U.S. Army during World War II. Following the war, Gene and his family moved to San Francisco where he began his career at the San Francisco Municipal Railway. Early Career On February 1, 1946, Henderson was hired as a streetcar motorman out of Sutro Division, which was located on the corner of 32nd Ave. and Clement St. He was hired just five years after Muni’s first Black transit operator, Audley Cole, had successfully fought to integrate the carmen’s union in 1941. In his early days at Muni, Gene worked one of the three lines running out of Sutro Division from the Ferry Building to the Richmond District o...

New top story from Time: Who’s Ariarne Titmus? The Australian Swimmer’s Rivalry With Katie Ledecky Has Captivated Olympics Fans

https://ift.tt/3fdGe1v Before this week, many people knew Katie Ledecky as one of the most dominant names in swimming for the last decade. So they might have been surprised by the success of Australia’s 20-year-old Ariarne Titmus during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, who has now bested Ledecky twice to snatch gold medals. In Tokyo, Titmus’ rivalry with Ledecky has been one of the most captivating parts of the Tokyo swimming program. The rivalry between the two star swimmers dates back to the 2019 world championship, when Titmus became the first woman to beat Ledecky at the international level. They’ll have one more chance to race in Tokyo, this time in the 800-m freestyle on July 31. She isn’t the favorite this time, however. Ledecky is undefeated in the 800 m, holding the fastest 24 times in the event’s history as well as the world and Olympic records, which she set during her winning race at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics . [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Titmus, who gre...

New top story from Time: The Fight for a $15 Minimum Wage Is Our Selma

https://ift.tt/37oF2Ez After the public lynching of George Floyd last summer, his cry of “I can’t breathe” galvanized a movement for Black lives that won majority support among Americans . Floyd wasn’t the only one gasping for breath. While Americans watched a police officer choke the life out of Floyd, we also witnessed Black Americans contracting a deadly respiratory disease at three times the rate of our white neighbors , according to an August report from the National Urban League. The growing public consensus that we as a nation must address systemic racism has led to serious soul-searching in families, churches, universities, corporations and political life. But just as the Selma campaign became a symbol during the civil rights movement of the need for legislation to expand voting rights, the $15 an hour minimum wage proposal in Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan represents the possibility that our government can take decisive action to make racial justice real tod...

New top story from Time: Lil Nas X on ‘Montero (Call Me By Your Name),’ Fighting LGBTQ Repression and the Influence of FKA Twigs

https://ift.tt/3rsB2tW When Lil Nas X released the music video for his new single “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” on Friday, social media quickly flooded with responses both euphoric and scathing. The provocative video shows Lil Nas in various mythical, religious and historical settings, including one in which he gives a lap dance to the devil before killing him and putting on his horns. The video has been seen 34 million times on YouTube since its release, and Lil Nas’ name was trending on Twitter all weekend. On that site, some praised him for his artistic vision as well as his unbound expression of queerness; others labeled the video Satanic or sacrilegious, and pledged to boycott his music . Lil Nas says this range of impassioned responses is exactly what he had hoped for. “I feel like we’ve come to a time in music where everything is nice and nothing is really cutting edge or starting conversations any more,” he told TIME in an interview on Friday evening. “I want...

New top story from Time: U.S. to Share 60 Million Doses of AstraZeneca Vaccines Amid Global COVID-19 Surge

https://ift.tt/3gDXEpp The U.S. announced Monday it would share its entire supply of AstraZeneca’s Covid-19 vaccine with other countries and readied an aid package for India, as President Joe Biden pivots to ramp up U.S. pandemic assistance to the rest of the world. The decision would make as many as 60 million vaccine doses available for export in coming months, if they clear a federal safety review. The plan represents a shift for Biden, who has hesitated to give vaccine doses and materials to other countries while focusing on ensuring Americans are vaccinated first. “Given the strong portfolio of vaccines that the United States has already authorized and that is available in large quantities — including two two-dose vaccines and one one-dose vaccine — and given AstraZeneca is not authorized for use in the United States , we do not need to use AstraZeneca in our fight against Covid over the next few months,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Monday. ...

FOX NEWS: Olympic gymnasts sound off on the evolving leotard: 'Power and prestige goes with those leos' The world may have grown accustomed to seeing Olympic gymnasts wearing leotards as they compete for the highest honor in the sport, but these garments haven’t always been the first pick for women.

Olympic gymnasts sound off on the evolving leotard: 'Power and prestige goes with those leos' The world may have grown accustomed to seeing Olympic gymnasts wearing leotards as they compete for the highest honor in the sport, but these garments haven’t always been the first pick for women. via FOX NEWS https://ift.tt/3BQEKE3

New top story from Time: Joe Biden Proved a Press Conference Doesn’t Have to Be a Spectacle

https://ift.tt/39jwsb1 This article is part of the The DC Brief, TIME’s politics newsletter. Sign up here to get stories like this sent to your inbox every weekday. There were no stunts or name calling. “Fake News” was never hurled around, nor were personal insults the flavor of the day. The closest thing we got to a cliff-hanger at President Joe Biden’s first full press conference on Thursday was that he would have more details about his infrastructure plans when he visits Pittsburgh. The most glaring error of fact was on that last point: Biden said he’d be traveling to Pittsburgh on Friday when the White House had it on the schedule for Wednesday. It was, to be plain, a complete 180 from what we collectively weathered for the four years when President Donald Trump would turn the East Room of the White House into a studio set for a fact-challenged reality show. Gone were the pettiness and self-victimhood , the attempts to divide Americans and nurse grievances. Even...

New top story from Time: Watch TIME’s Exclusive Footage of NASA’s Most Powerful Rocket Ever Under Construction

https://ift.tt/3xqnVOf Rockets are built slowly—slowly and exceedingly carefully—which is in keeping with giant machines on which humans stake their lives and nations stake their prestige. In NASA’s cavernous Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral, America’s next great moon rocket—the Space Launch System (SLS)—is being constructed with all that in mind. It is here too that TIME set up half a dozen cameras over the course of two months, capturing 3 million images for a time-lapse video that makes it possible to compress those months of work into just a few kinetic minutes. Under the eyes of the cameras, the rocket’s twin solid-fuel boosters came together—each of them 177 feet tall, weighing 1.6 million pounds and generating 3.6 million pounds (1.6 million kg) of thrust. Twenty-five percent taller than the solid boosters on the space shuttle, the twin engines are made of five separate segments, compared to the shuttle’s four. When they are completed, they will be attached ...

My precise view

Search This Blog