June 2019 Update - Sansome & Battery Connections Project

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and Port of San Francisco thank you for your recent participation and feedback on the proposed changes to improve safety and maintain traffic circulation. Most of the Embarcadero is on the City’s Vision Zero High Injury Network – the 13% of San Francisco’s streets that account for 75% of severe and fatal traffic injuries. The City has a zero tolerance for such traffic collisions and is focused on prioritizing action where there are safety problems.

The proposed project will provide immediate safety improvements at the intersection of Sansome Street, Chestnut Street, and the Embarcadero – the site of a fatal traffic collision last summer and long-standing safety concerns – as well as on surrounding streets. These changes prioritize making streets safer for pedestrians, the most vulnerable users, in addition to other modes. The project will include:

• Changes to curb use and lane configurations on Sansome, Battery, Vallejo, and Davis streets as previously presented to the community
• Maintaining northbound Embarcadero left-turn movements onto Chestnut Street
• Eliminating southbound Embarcadero U-turn movements at Chestnut Street
• Eliminating southbound Embarcadero right-turn movements onto Chestnut Street, except for emergency vehicles that will continue to have access (See map link below)
• In response to circulation changes onto Chestnut Street, new passenger and commercial loading zones will be added on Francisco and Montgomery streets to minimize double-parking and maintain safe and efficient circulation (See map link below)
• A painted safety zone, new crosswalk, and ‘all-way walk’ phase at Sansome & Chestnut, allowing for shorter pedestrian crossing distances and reduced vehicle speeds within the intersection

A map of alternative routes and new loading zones is available here.

Project construction will consist primarily of striping changes on existing pavement, installation of ‘soft-hit posts’, and limited changes to curb use. Improvements within Port jurisdiction are considered interim and reversible, and will inform SFMTA’s long-term vision for the Embarcadero through the Embarcadero Enhancement Project. SFMTA will evaluate the effectiveness of these changes on safety and traffic within 3 months of project completion and will report back to the community and the Port of San Francisco.

Construction is expected to begin in early summer, with most work occurring in the off-peak hours. An email update will be sent prior to start of construction, as well as when post-construction evaluation data is available.