Changes outside West Portal Station have beautified the area and made streets safer.
We recently completed an evaluation of the West Portal Station Safety and Community Space Improvements project. That’s a project to make the area near West Portal safer, and we are seeing results:
- Safer neighborhood streets, including fewer serious crashes in the project area
- More people following the rules as they drive and walk outside the station
- A vibrant commercial corridor with sales tax growth that exceeds the citywide average
Project staff listened to community members – and delivered these improvements quickly
We got a lot of feedback when we began the project in spring 2024. So, the project team worked with community members. And we incorporated their ideas on holistically improving street safety.
Our board approved the final proposals within three months. Then, we implemented most traffic changes within another three months. Beautification changes came in 2025. Those included station murals, decorative crosswalks, a bikeshare station and a street mural.
Since then, the project team has carefully assessed how things are working. We’ve looked at traffic data. This includes vehicle speeds and counts, compliance with vehicle restrictions and collision details.
We have interviewed passersby about how often they visit West Portal businesses. We also asked them how safe they feel crossing the street. And we considered data like sales tax receipts, bikeshare trips and transit reliability. Here’s what we found.
Neighborhood safety highlights: fewer crashes, slower speeds and better yielding where we made changes
Community members emphasized that we needed to calm traffic in the whole neighborhood – not just outside West Portal Station. So, we added speed tables and cushions on nearby streets like Wawona. We also added a flashing beacon at Ulloa and Wawona streets to make it easier to see people walking.
We are seeing fewer crashes in the project area. And we have seen lower traffic speeds on streets with project improvements.
- Injury crashes decreased by 60%. Previously, there was an average of 6.7 injury crashes per year in the project area. After project improvements, there has been an average of 2.7 injury crashes per year.
- Crashes involving Muni vehicles have fallen by a third. As of fall 2025, there have been no crashes involving a Muni vehicle and another vehicle in the project area.
- People are slowing down on the streets with traffic calming improvements.
- Along both Ulloa and Vicente streets, we saw fewer than 1% of drivers traveling at five miles per hour or more over the speed limit.
- Speeding is down on Wawona Street with fewer instances of people driving over 30 m.p.h. For example, on Wawona between Taraval and Ulloa streets, we now see only 7% of drive speeding. That’s down from 19% before we added speed cushions.
- Additionally, most people we observed crossing Ulloa Street at Wawona Street don’t activate the flashing beacon. But all drivers yielded to people walking when they did, during our observation.
Over 70% of people reported feeling very or somewhat safe at this intersection. Before the project that was about 50%.
Outside of the project area, speeds on neighborhood streets did not show a clear trend. Some increased, and others decreased without an obvious cause. The neighborhood still does not have streets with a disproportionate number of severe or fatal crashes.
Most people follow the traffic rules outside West Portal Station
Directly outside West Portal Station, we simplified the intersection to discourage through traffic. We also sought to better define the right-of-way in this busy area. We did that in two ways. First, we prohibited some movements at West Portal Avenue and Ulloa Street for people driving. Second, we added planters and a bikeshare station to channel people walking into the station.
Now most people driving and walking are following the rules:
- 75% fewer drivers make illegal U-turns at West Portal station after we added a red transit lane
- 97% of drivers make legal movements at West Portal Avenue and Ulloa Street
- 99% of drivers follow the left turn restriction at West Portal Avenue and Vicente Street
- 75% fewer pedestrians cross in the middle of the tracks outside West Portal Station. Instead, more are crossing at designated crossings.
Before (top) and after (bottom): A red transit lane on West Portal Avenue approaching Ulloa Street has helped reduce illegal U-turns by 75%.
Business is up and the changes are popular
A key aspect of the project was support for neighborhood businesses. Initially, some merchants were concerned that sales would drop. The concern was that driving to West Portal Avenue would become an obstacle to visiting the neighborhood.
Fortunately, available data suggests that this hasn’t come to pass:
- West Portal sales tax receipts have outpaced citywide trends. That was true before and since project implementation. Since the project, sales tax receipts continued to grow higher than the citywide average.
- 95% of survey respondents visit West Portal businesses as frequently or more frequently than before project implementation. In surveys with passersby,
- 82% of people report visiting West Portal businesses the same amount
- 13% report visiting more frequently
- 5% report visiting less frequently
- These results are similar for respondents who drive to West Portal businesses.
- 79% report visiting the same amount
- 15% report visiting more frequently
- 6% report visiting less frequently
Perhaps due to these positive results, most people like the changes. In the intercept survey we conducted, 57% of respondents report that they strongly or somewhat like the changes at West Portal Station. That's compared to just 22% of people who strongly or somewhat dislike them.
Read the full report.
What's next
The materials used to improve the West Portal horseshoe are designed to last three to five years. This will allow us to evaluate how well the space is working. Given the positive results so far, we are seeking grant funding to add more permanent materials. Stay tuned and sign up for project updates for more information on how to get involved.