March 31 Public Hearing and Project Update

On Friday, March 31 SFMTA staff will bring traffic safety proposals for the Turk Street Safety Project to an Engineering Public Hearing.

Staff proposals include the following:

• Paint-buffered bikeway on Turk from Market to Gough (similar to the existing facility on Golden Gate Ave.)
• Lane reduction to slow vehicle speeds
• Signal retiming to reduce speeding
• Painted safety zones and sidewalk bulbouts to increase pedestrian visibility at intersections
• High visibility crosswalks
• Traffic signal upgrades

PROJECT DESIGN UPDATES

The Turk Street Safety Project had initially proposed a parking-protected bikeway design and the project had a target completion of design in November 2016 and implementation in early 2017. After an extensive planning phase involving internal city agency coordination and public outreach, one key element of the project has changed.

The design for a parking-protected bikeway has been scaled back to a buffered bikeway in response to emergency response needs expressed by the San Francisco Fire Department. Specifically, the Fire Department identified existing transit overhead current system (OCS), which powers the trolley coaches along the corridor, as a key constraint to emergency operations. With OCS and the proposed parking-protected bike lane shifting parked cars away from the curb, the Fire Department determined the usable street space for emergency response would have been too narrow. 

As part of an effort to make more substancial capital improvements to Turk Street in the future, the SFMTA will continue to work with the SFFD and other stakeholders to achieve the goal of installing protected bike lanes on this important bicycling corridor.

PUBLIC HEARING DETAILS

WHAT: SFMTA Engineering Public Hearing

WHEN: Friday, March 31 (10 a.m.)

WHERE: Room 416 (Hearing Room 4),  San Francisco City Hall, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place