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Geary Boulevard Improvement Project parking impacts

SFMTA.com/GearyParking

Parking loss is a trade-off for better bus service and safer streets for people walking. These goals would be accomplished mostly by:

  • Extending side-running transit lanes on Geary Boulevard where there is currently a gap. To provide room for a transit lane, angled parking would be converted to parallel between 28th and 15th avenues.
  • Installing pedestrian bulb-outs at some intersections and daylighting at all intersections to improve safety for people walking.
  • Lengthening substandard bus stops so 60-foot buses can pull up to the curb to serve passengers. Busy 38R Rapid stops would be lengthened to allow two buses to load at a time, with new bus bulb-outs installed.

Pie chart showing approximate breakdown of parking loss on Geary Boulevard. About 30% of parking loss is attributed to new transit lanes, 30% to lengthening substandard bus stops and other transit improvements, and 40% is attributed to safety improvements.

Throughout the two-mile project limits, there would be 70 fewer parking spaces along Geary Boulevard. This loss would be offset primarily by converting some nearby parallel parking to angled parking on some cross streets and re-locating three Bay Wheels bike share stations. This would add 39 replacement parking spaces, decreasing the net reduction of parking to 31 spaces or less than one parking space per block on average.

The Geary project team has studied every available option to minimize parking loss incurred by the project and has significantly reduced parking loss from earlier phases of the project design, which estimated 60 parking spaces removed for a center-running design and 140 spaces removed for a side-running design.

The below table shows parking loss due to the proposed project as well as net loss with cross street replacement parking included.  

Table showing parking impacts from the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project. • 34th Avenue to 25th Avenue: 1,000 estimated public parking spaces in area. Parking loss due to the project proposal would be 13 spaces (1.4 per block). Previously planned cross-street parking additions would add 8 spaces. New parking additions as of June 2023 would add 8 more spaces. The net parking change would be a gain of 3 spaces (+0.3 spaces per block). • 25th Avenue to Park Presidio: 1,430 estimated public parking spaces in area. Parking loss due to the project proposal would be 39 spaces (3.5 per block). Previously planned cross-street parking additions would add 14 spaces. New parking additions as of June 2023 would add 9 more spaces. The net parking change would be a loss of 16 spaces (-1.5 spaces per block). • Park Presidio to Palm/Jordan: 1,750 estimated public parking spaces in area. Parking loss due to the project proposal would be 18 spaces (1.3 per block). There are no cross-street parking additions planned in this area. The net parking change would be a loss of 18 spaces (1.3 spaces per block). • Full project: 4,180 estimated public parking spaces in area. Parking loss due to the project proposal would be 70 spaces (2.1 per block). Previously planned cross-street parking additions would add 16 spaces. New parking additions as of June 2023 would add 17 more spaces. The net parking change for the full project scope would be a loss of 31 spaces (-0.9 spaces per block).

Block-by-Block Parking Changes: 34th Avenue to Stanyan Street

The block-by-block drawings of project proposals include before and after conditions that allow the viewer to see where parking is added or removed, but in order to understand the net change in parking on a block, the viewer needs to count the change in parking spots. To complement the drawings, the chart below illustrates additions or subtractions of parking on each block of Geary as well as new parking proposed to be created on cross streets.

 
Block/Cross Street Parking Changes
34th Ave -1
6900 Geary 0
33rd Ave 0
6800 Geary 0
32nd Ave 0
6700 Geary 0
31st Ave 0
6600 Geary -1
30th Ave -1
6500 Geary -2
29th Ave +8
6400 Geary 0
28th Ave +5
6300 Geary -3
27th Ave 0
6200 Geary -5
26th Ave +3
6100 Geary 0
25th Ave 0
6000 Geary -4
24th Ave +3
5900 Geary 0
23rd Ave +5
5800 Geary -9
22nd Ave 0
5700 Geary +1
21st Ave +5
5600 Geary -6
20th Ave 0
5500 Geary -7
19th Ave +2
5400 Geary -3
18th Ave 0
5300 Geary 0
17th Ave +3
5200 Geary -8
16th Ave +2
5100 Geary -2
15th Ave -1
5000 Geary +1
14th Ave +2
4950 Geary 0
Park Presidio 0
Park Presidio 0
4900 Geary 0
Funston 0
4800 Geary +2
12th Ave 0
4700 Geary +2
11th Ave 0
4600 Geary -1
10th Ave 0
4500 Geary -1
9th Ave 0
4400 Geary 0
8th Ave 0
4300 Geary -1
7th Ave 0
4200 Geary -1
6th Ave 0
4100 Geary -5
5th Ave 0
4000 Geary -2
4th Ave 0
3900 Geary -7
3rd Ave -1
3800 Geary +1
2nd Ave 0
3700 Geary -1
Arguello 0
3600 Geary -1
Palm 0
3500 Geary -2
Stanyan/Jordan 0

 

Benefits of parallel parking

Installing transit lanes before utility work begins has some benefits during construction. It would help protect buses from delays while SFPUC works to upgrade the water and sewer system. It would also allow more parking to be retained during construction. By converting angled parking to parallel, an additional lane can be added which would allow greater flexibility while work is being performed. Without the additional lane, all parking spaces on a block would have to be temporarily removed more often during water/sewer construction to maintain through traffic. 

Diagram showing an example block of Geary during construction with angled parking retained. There is a travel lane near the median and a second travel lane is occupying the parking area. The work zone is between the two travel lanes.

Example street configuration during construction with angled parking. The angled parking zone would be used as a traffic lane during SFPUC utility work.  

 

Diagram showing an example block of Geary during construction with parallel parking and three travel lanes. The center travel lane near the median and the travel lane near the parking area remain open during construction. The work zone occupies the middle travel lane, and there is enough space to maintain the parking zone.

Example street configuration during construction with parallel parking. Although construction work zone configurations will vary, parallel parking would help preserve more parking during utility construction. There would be times when the parking lane with parallel parking would need to be used during construction, but the amount of time it would be used would be less than with angled parking.

 

We have also heard from disability advocates that parallel parking makes it easier for people in wheelchairs or walkers to access their vehicles and they can deploy a wheelchair ramp directly to the curb, whereas with angled parking there is limited space between vehicles.