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6th Street Pedestrian Safety Project - November 2019

District 6 Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Open House

Join the SFMTA and the Office of District 6 Supervisor Matt Haney for a District 6 bicycle and pedestrian street safety open house on Wednesday, December 11, 2019 from 6:00pm to 8:00pm at 375 7th Street in San Francisco.

At this open house, the public will have an opportunity to learn about the various street safety projects in the South of Market (SoMa) and Tenderloin neighborhoods. Come learn about the past, present, and future bicycle and pedestrian traffic safety work in District 6!

Learning Safety

A person walking or biking along 6th Street gets hit by a car every 16 days, and 40% of those crashes result in severe injuries. Over the last five years, 200 collisions occurred along 6th Street, and our crash analyses show that vehicles turning or failing to yield and pedestrians crossing at unprotected intersections are the most prevalent crash types. These conditions led to the initial concept of a pedestrian safety project based on analyzing traffic and usage of the streetscape on 6th Street.

One key finding of our traffic data was that removal of one southbound lane on 6th Street would enable a key safety feature –widened sidewalks. We were able to include the lane removal element of the project as part of our quick-build upgrades in advance of our longer-term construction goals. These upgrades were implemented this summer and consisted of paint, signage, and curb changes.

For most routine trips, whether an individual is travelling on transit, riding a bike, walking, driving a car or using a mobility device, the path of travel becomes a habit. When changes to traffic patterns occur, such as with the recent 6th Street improvements, these habits are disrupted. As a result, there is an adjustment period where drivers, pedestrians, and others evaluate and memorize the new conditions. Our feedback suggests we are now going through the initial adjustment period for routine users of 6th Street. The information we are gathering now will also assist in our final design of the physical infrastructure to be constructed in 2020.

SFMTA Has a New Director

As you may know, the SFMTA has a new Director of Transportation, Jeff Tumlin. As he noted in one of his first public statements, "My priority is to build, operate and maintain our system in ways that keep our communities whole in the face of change and reduce the financial cost of mobility for all."

For priority items like the 6th Street Pedestrian Safety Project, this means an onoing commitment to helping ensure that our streets and sidewalks are safe and efficient for all users.

Stay Updated

Know someone else who would like to hear about this project? If so, please forward our e-mail so they can sign up for future news.

We provide regular project updates on our website, which includes past monthly e-mail updates, to ensure interested members of the public can easily get up-to-speed on the project status. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to SFMTA with any questions, concerns, or recommendations on how the project team can move forward in a way that best supports the interests of the local community and the city of San Francisco generally.

Thanks for reading and looking forward to getting in touch with you again next month.