Valencia Bikeway Improvements - Spring 2021 Project Update

Thanks for your continued interest in the Valencia Bikeway Improvements Project.

Since our last community open house in February 2020, the project team has worked with internal and external stakeholders to understand concerns with the bikeway proposals arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Valencia has rapidly changed since the start of the Shelter in Place orders until today. Over the last 14 months, Valencia has seen 60 Shared Spaces and weekend street closures for outdoor dining and other uses on selected blocks of the corridor. The Shared Spaces Program is vital for economic recovery for local businesses that have been heavily impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but adds another layer of complexity to the original bikeway proposal that was shared in February 2020. These challenges include more demand for the curb space for uses such as the Shared Spaces parklets, parking and loading, and queueing of patrons. The number of Shared Spaces change from week to week, and until the permanent program helps to stabilize the number of parklet installations, loading zones and other uses on Valencia, it is challenging to make an informed recommendation for a protected bikeway design on the corridor.

As the Shared Spaces Program finalizes the legislation for permanence later this summer, our team will work to install immediate improvements, including daylighting (adding red zones at intersections to improve visibility), signal timing changes, additional bike parking, and curb management changes. This will occur following the Shared Spaces Program becomes permanent to best utilize our city resources. Because Valencia Street is being utilized in such a different way than it was before the pandemic, this offers the opportunity to assess bigger and bolder ideas for the future of corridor.

Thank you to all the community members that have been involved with the project so far. The SFMTA remains committed to providing protected bikeways on the Valencia corridor, and we look forward to continuing to work with the community and the District 8 and 9 offices later this year to bring protected bikeways to Valencia.