San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Tenderloin Safe Intersections for All Project USDOT (2022) RAISE Grant Data Repository
Description
The Tenderloin is one of San Francisco’s densest neighborhoods and is home to some of the most historically marginalized groups, such as people with disabilities, Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC), residents of single-room occupancy hotels (SROs) and supportive housing, and limited English-proficiency communities. Despite the high concentration of pedestrians and vulnerable populations, Tenderloin streets have historically been prioritized as vehicle thoroughfares, resulting in elevated levels of traffic collisions in the neighborhood.
Every street in the Tenderloin is on San Francisco’s High Injury Network, the 13 percent of City Streets where 75 percent of severe and fatal collisions occur. Partnerships with Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) will be key in developing robust and inclusive outreach and engagement to understand the community’s mobility priorities and needs. Through the Tenderloin Safe Intersections for All planning study, the SFMTA will work with the community to redesign Tenderloin intersections to prioritize community needs first, creating safer and more inviting communities for those who live, work, and travel through this diverse neighborhood.
Existing Conditions
The Tenderloin comprises approximately 50 city blocks, all of which are on San Francisco’s High Injury Network. Despite efforts by SFMTA to improve safety through numerous low-cost techniques, including lane reductions, signal timing changes, bike lanes, reducing speed limits, and more, the Tenderloin community continues to face high levels of traffic injuries and fatalities in their neighborhood. In large part, the continued safety problems are the result of deteriorated and/or unsafe infrastructure that requires major capital investment to upgrade. For instance, the neighborhood’s many sub-sidewalk basements have made installing needed curb ramps and bulb-outs cost prohibitive. Similarly, many of the traffic signals were built over 70 years ago, and the existing hardware does not support needed safety features such as pedestrian scrambles, protected turn phases, mast-arms, and bicycle signals. This work is critical to meeting the City’s ambitious Vision Zero goal, and it is necessary to begin repairing the decades of disinvestment in this community.
Benefits
The Tenderloin Safe Intersections for All project will lead a neighborhood wide planning and outreach process to: (1) implement a community-based planning process to identify critical safety needs at approximately 27 traffic signals within the Tenderloin; (2) prepare conceptual design options for each intersection based on community input; (3) identify a preferred alternative for each intersection; and (4) complete detailed design for each intersection, including environmental review along with full investigation and resolution of potential sub-sidewalk basement and utility conflicts. Potential improvements to achieve these goals include:
- Long-term improvements to help resolve current and future safety and infrastructure issues. This could include the implementation of pedestrian scrambles, bicycle signal phases, concrete bulb-outs, and protected left-turns at intersections
- Curb and sub-sidewalk management
- Upgraded signal infrastructure and lighting
- Placemaking and other improvements identified through outreach process
Project Funding
Project Schedule
Sponsor
SFMTA Authorized Representation - Authorized Representative: Joel Goldberg, Manager, Programming and Grants. joel.goldberg@sfmta.com
Related Links and Documents
The documents and related links below are included in the Tenderloin Safe Intersections for All Project application narrative.
