Arguello Boulevard Safety Project
Arguello Boulevard is an active and important connection through the Inner Richmond District. The Arguello corridor carries thousands of San Francisco residents every day, whether they are walking to Rossi Playground or Roosevelt Middle School, taking the 33 MUNI bus line, or biking to the Golden Gate Bridge. Arguello connects the two largest parks in San Francisco, The Presidio and Golden Gate Park, and is a main recreational thoroughfare for people walking and biking through the Inner Richmond.
The main goal of this project is to address community concerns surrounding safety for people biking and walking along Arguello Boulevard. In designing safety treatments, the SFMTA is incorporating community feedback on specific issues along Arguello Boulevard, input from the District Supervisor’s Office, and collision records for vehicles, pedestrians, and people on bikes. This project will use paint treatments to increase the visibility of pedestrians and people on bikes, provide buffered bike lanes to further separate bikes from motor vehicles, and create safer intersection crossings for everyone on Arguello Boulevard.
PROJECT DETAILS
In September 2016, the SFMTA will implement the following painted improvements to the Arguello Boulevard corridor that were identifed through a community outreach and design process:
- Buffered Bike Lane: Narrowing the existing 15-foot wide vehicle travel lanes allows for space to paint a buffer zone alongside the existing bike lanes on Arguello Boulevard. This will further separate and clearly delineate spaces on the street for motor vehicles and bicycles
- Daylighting at Intersections: Daylighting increases the visibility of pedestrians by removing one parking space on the approach to crosswalks.
- Bike Boxes and Two-Stage Left Turn Boxes: These paint treatments will allow bicycles to make safer turns into and out of side streets and will create a space for bicycles waiting at red lights.
- Left-Turn Prohibition – McAllister Street: This project will restrict southbound vehicles from turning left onto eastbound McAllister Street and will paint a median across the mouth of McAllister Street to physically block this turning movement, which has a history of vehicle-bicycle conflicts associated with it. Drivers will also be unable to turn left from westbound McAllister Street to southbound Fulton Street.
- Reconfigure Turn Pockets: This project will remove the left-turn pocket on northbound Arguello Boulevard at Anza Street and replace it with a right-turn pocket. Other turn pockets on the corridor will be reconfigured to add bicycle wayfinding markings.
The SFMTA will also work with DPW to make long-term concrete and signal upgrades in coordination with the planned Public Works re-paving project set for 2018-2019. These improvements include:
- Signal Upgrades: Installation of signal hardware and signal conduit to upgrade all traffic signals on Arguello Boulevard, including the installation of Pedestrian Countdown Signals
- Signal Changes to Fulton Street/Arguello Blvd Intersection: Upgrade the traffic signal at Fulton Street to allow for a protected left-turn for vehicles making a southbound left turn from Arguello to Fulton Street. This project will also install a “lagging left-turn” from eastbound Fulton Street to northbound Arguello Boulevard to address an ongoing collision pattern, and will restrict cars from turning left from westbound Fulton Street to southbound Arguello Boulevard.
- Rapid Rectangular Flashing Beacon - Cabrillo Street: Installation of a push-button RRFB pedestrian beacon to facilitate the safe crossing of pedestrians at the north-side crosswalk of Arguello Boulevard at Cabrillo Street.
- Concrete Pedestrian Refuge Islands: Upgrade the current painted pedestrian refuge islands at McAllister, Cabrillo, and Golden Gate into full 6-inch raised concrete islands.
- Install Concrete Median - McAllister Street: Upgrade the painted median at McAllister Street to a raised concrete median to calm motor vehicle traffic and permanently prohibit cars from turning left from southbound Arguello to eastbound McAllister Street
- Concrete Bulbouts - Cabrillo Street: Widen the sidewalks at the north-side crosswalk at Cabrillo Street to make this busy pedestrian crossing as short as possible for people crossing Arguello
- Enlarge Floating Pedestrian/Bus Island - Balboa Street: Enlarge the floating pedestrian/bus island at the NW corner of Arguello and Balboa to shorten the pedestrian crossing distance across Balboa and Arguello, and to allow for a full-length bus stop at this location.
- Extend Turk Street Bike Lane: Extend the westbound bike lane on Turk Street to connect with the bike lanes on Arguello Boulevard.
These paving-coordination items will be heard at an SFMTA Engineering Public Hearing on September 30, 2016 and will be constructed as part of the Public Works paving project set for 2018-2019.
PROJECT TIMELINE
September 2016: Repainting of roadway with buffered bike lane, turning lane improvements, median at McAllister Street, and other changes
September 30, 2016: Public Hearing for long-term improvements (see details above)
October 2016: MTA Board approval of long-term improvements (see details above)
November 2016 - March 2018: Public Works detailed design of long-term improvements to be constructed with Public Works paving project in 2018-2019.
September 2018 - April 2019: Full repaving of Arguello Boulevard from Fulton to West Pacific, construction of long-term improvements including bulbs, Rapid Flashing Beacon at Cabrillo, concrete medians.