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...

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 ...

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...

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: Mexican President AMLO Says He Has COVID-19 as Cases in His Country Surge

https://ift.tt/2YaFX6t (MEXICO CITY) — Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said Sunday he has tested positive for COVID-19 and that the symptoms are mild. Mexico’s president, who has been criticized for his handling of his country’s pandemic, said on his official Twitter account that he is under medical treatment. “I regret to inform you that I am infected with COVID-19,” he tweeted. “The symptoms are mild but I am already under medical treatment. As always, I am optimistic. We will all move forward.” López Obrador, 67, has long been criticized for not setting an example of prevention in public. He has rarely been seen wearing a mask and continued to keep up a busy travel schedule taking commercial flights. Lamento informarles que estoy contagiado de COVID-19. Los síntomas son leves pero ya estoy en tratamiento médico. Como siempre, soy optimista. Saldremos adelante todos. Me representará la Dra. Olga Sánchez Cordero en las mañaneras para informar como lo ha...

New top story from Time: This Is Who Will Replace Simone Biles in the Olympic Gymnastics All-Around Final

https://ift.tt/3zENvyY When Simone Biles withdrew from the gymnastics team event at the Tokyo Summer Olympic Games on July 27, her teammates and coaches scrambled to fill in for her on the spot, since Biles made the sudden decision after the competition had started. Sunisa Lee and Jordan Chiles stepped in and both pulled off impressive routines with little notice — and no warm up time — to help the US women earn silver . Biles announced a day later that she is also withdrawing from the all-around event, the marquee competition for women’s gymnastics. Biles is the reigning Olympic all-around champion, but won’t be defending her title after admitting to struggling mentally with the pressures of competing in Tokyo. [time-brightcove not-tgx=”true”] Who will replace her? It’s not just a matter of swapping in a teammate. Biles was the top qualifier, and only the gymnasts with the top 24 scores from the qualifying round are eligible for the all-around. In addition, in order to g...

New top story from Time: ‘Judge Me By My Actions.’ Trevor Lawrence Discusses the 2021 NFL Draft and Questions About His Work Ethic

https://ift.tt/3vvFjiL Trevor Lawrence, the former Clemson star quarterback and presumptive top overall selection in the 2021 NFL draft—which begins Thursday—has had one hectic month of April. He’s prepping for the most important night of his football life. He married his longtime girlfriend, Marissa Mowry. (The honeymoon will have to wait). He signed endorsement deals with Gatorade, Topps, which has offered both physical trading cards and NFTs with his likeness, and the cryptocurrency investment app Blockfolio —his signing bonus was paid in crypto. On Wednesday morning, Lawrence announced he signed an endorsement deal with Adidas. He’s also received a taste of the ridiculous headaches a franchise quarterback must endure. Quarterback, more than perhaps any position in all of pro sports, unmasks the obsessiveness of sports fans. Especially a player like Lawrence, whom ESPN draft guru Mel Kiper Jr. rates as the fourth-best quarterback draft prospect since 1979, trailin...

New top story from Time: Dear Parents, It’s Not Just You. Raising a Teen Now Is Really Hard

https://ift.tt/3ae0nRK A version of this article appeared in this week’s It’s Not Just You newsletter. SUBSCRIBE HERE to have It’s Not Just You delivered to your inbox every Sunday. And send comments to Susanna@Time.com Well hello! I’m so glad you’re here. This week: a letter to parents of teens, many of whom are struggling, a selection of expert pandemic parenting advice, plus some evidence of human kindness. DEAR PARENTS: IT’S NOT JUST YOU, THIS IS HARD. Over the last few months, I’ve gotten so many emails from parents of teens—both readers of this newsletter and friends. And while the details vary, I can hear the thrum of fear in each one as they describe a child who seems to be slowly crumbling, or is in crisis. So this is a letter for all of you: You’re not alone. You’re not the only one feeling lost or like you’re the worst parent you know. So many of us have been where you are now, especially in an unimaginably fractured and stressful year, one that has made...

New top story from Time: The United States vs. Billie Holiday Is a Messy But Passionate Tribute to an American Legend

https://ift.tt/3uDiuKn Almost everyone has feelings about Billie Holiday , many of them strong. But no one can own her, and if there’s any supreme conclusion to be drawn from Lee Daniels ’ disorganized but passionate drama The United States vs. Billie Holiday, it’s that. Daniels’ movie focuses on an underexplored angle of Holiday’s life, one that dovetails with all the things we know about her: Holiday had a traumatic childhood—she was raped at age 10. She was repeatedly attracted to controlling, abusive men. Her emotional vulnerability spurred a heroin habit she couldn’t kick. But her personal problems were intensified by a force determined to crush her, specifically the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, which pursued her with an obsessive vengeance that surely hastened her death, in 1959 at age 44. Holiday’s drug use wasn’t even the agency’s main problem with her: what truly infuriated them was her refusal to stop performing one of her signature numbers, “Strange Fruit,” a pr...

My precise view

Search This Blog