June 28 Update: One part of the proposal has changed from the original June 27 materials. The 91 Owl stop and terminal is now proposed to move to the south side of Ulloa Street between West Portal Avenue and Claremont Boulevard.
The refined proposal for the West Portal Station Safety and Community Space Improvements Project reflects changes and additions based on community feedback and further engineering and design. The proposal includes:
Traffic calming treatments on Ulloa, Vicente and Wawona streets
- Based on community feedback, we expanded the scope of traffic calming improvements. The refined proposals do more to discourage speeding on Ulloa Street and introduce treatments along Vicente and Wawona streets. Together, these changes would discourage speeding, calm traffic and signal that drivers should slow down as they approach West Portal Avenue with its significant number of people walking.
Ulloa Street:
- Flexible plastic delineators and/or low-profile speed bumps would be added between Forest Side and West Portal avenues to require drivers to make slower, safer movements.
- Intersection improvements would be installed at each intersection between Forest Side Avenue and Claremont Boulevard using paint and raised elements to calm traffic and turns.
- New Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons would be added to make people crossing more visible at the intersection of Ulloa and Wawona streets to people driving.
Vicente Street:
- Changes at Vicente Street’s intersections with Portola Drive/Santa Clara Avenue and West Portal Avenue would work with a pre-existing plan to install concrete islands at the five-way Madrone Avenue/Wawona Street/Vicente Street intersection. Improvements along these three intersections together would serve to calm traffic as it approaches West Portal Avenue from either side of Vicente Street.
- Vicente Street/Portola Drive/Santa Clara Avenue would receive similar intersection improvements to those described above for Ulloa Street including paint and raised elements.
- At West Portal Avenue, the 57 Parkmerced stop on the north side of Vicente Street just west of West Portal Avenue would be removed to improve safety and traffic flow. Currently, when a bus stops in this location, the westbound travel lane is partially blocked by the bus, causing cars traveling westbound to drive partially in the eastbound lane to pass the bus and creating more friction at this busy intersection. This low-ridership stop was previously needed as extra terminal space, but it no longer needed.
Wawona Street:
- Six new speed tables would be installed on the blocks of Wawona Street between 14th Avenue and Taraval Street. Recent speed data collected indicated approximately 14% of cars were traveling over 30 mph northbound (uphill, speed limit 25 mph), and approximately 20% of cars were traveling over 30 mph downhill on the blocks of Wawona Street where traffic calming is proposed.
- As mentioned above, new Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons would be installed to make people crossing more visible at the intersection of Ulloa and Wawona street to people driving.
Vehicle restrictions and transit lanes
West Portal Avenue/Ulloa Street:
- Left-turns from northbound West Portal Avenue would be restricted as would westbound through traffic at Ulloa Street. Together, these two restrictions would simplify the intersection and decrease conflicts between people walking and vehicles by decreasing overall vehicle traffic through this intersection.
- The remaining vehicle movements allowed in this intersection are the ones considered most important for access to West Portal Avenue for customers. This maintains the ability for cars to turn south onto West Portal Avenue from Ulloa Street in either direction. In addition, drivers may travel eastbound across West Portal to maintain access to the businesses on that block of Ulloa Street, as well as to provide access to the SFMTA Ulloa/Claremont Lot.
West Portal Avenue/Vicente Street:
- The southbound left-turn from West Portal Avenue to Vicente Street would be restricted. Left turns at signalized intersections are responsible for about 40% of traffic deaths in San Francisco and, in 2013, a woman was killed by a driver turning left at this crosswalk.
Transit lanes
- Transit lanes would be installed on small segments of West Portal Avenue and Ulloa Street to help reinforce turn restrictions.
One-Way Lenox Way
Lenox Way would be converted from a two-way street to a one-way street traveling southbound downhill. This circulation change would help achieve the project goal to discourage through traffic through the West Portal Station area because Lenox Way traffic would only be able to travel westbound on Ulloa Street away from West Portal Station. It also would support compliance with the West Portal Avenue/Ulloa Street no westbound through and no northbound left turn restrictions because drivers destined for Lenox would no longer need to make these turns to access Lenox Way and would instead access Lenox Way via Taraval Street.
A painted edge line would be installed on Lenox Way to visually narrow the roadway and provide clear space to make it easier for cars backing out of driveways to have improved visibility for completing the maneuver. Adjacent to West Portal Elementary, a painted buffer area would be installed next to the existing passenger loading zone to give more space for student pick-up and drop-off related loading.
Illustration of Lenox Way edgeline to visually narrow street and provide room to back out of driveways
At the intersection of Lenox Way and Ulloa Street, the existing painted safety zone would be modified to provide room for cars traveling from Lenox Way onto Ulloa Street to turn and pass in the Muni outbound bus zone when no bus is present if needed. This responds to one of the concerns we heard from Lenox Way residents who were concerned that if a train is parked on Ulloa Street, that there would not be enough room to safely pass. Speed bumps or other treatments would be installed to ensure turns here are done slowly.
Horseshoe redesign
The half circle outside the station would be redesigned as a welcoming new station entrance. This redesign would use temporary materials designed to last three to five years to evaluate how well the space functions and provide time to plan a redesign with more permanent materials as appropriate. The redesign elements include a series of planters and a street mural. They would all work together to define the pedestrian-only space within the horseshoe and direct Muni riders to the best path to access the platforms.
In addition, wayfinding murals would be painted on the West Portal Station walls to beautify the space. Note that these elements do not require any parking and traffic legislation but are included here to share the full context of the project proposals.
Conceptual illustration of horseshoe re-design (draft, subject to change)
Parking and loading changes
The following parking and loading changes would be made:
- Lenox Way: Three more passenger loading zones (to respond to community requests for more room for drop-offs at West Portal Station and the West Portal Library) and two Muni Maintenance parking spaces (removes four general metered spaces and one RPP space)
- Ulloa Street: On the south side of the block between West Portal Avenue and Claremont Boulevard, five spaces would become a part time bus zone for the 91 Owl between 11 p.m. and 5:30 a.m.
- Vicente Street: Restoration of one general metered and one blue zone on Vicente at West Portal due to stop removal
- Taraval Street: Daylighting and re-location of Claremont school bus loading zone (removal of ~5 parking spaces on Taraval at Lenox)
Diagram of parking changes at Ulloa Street and Lenox Way
91 Owl Reroute
The 91 3rd Street/19th Avenue Owl stop and terminal space that is currently located in the horseshoe would be relocated to the south side of Ulloa Street just east of West Portal Avenue. To facilitate this new stop location, the routing would be revised such that after stopping at the terminal, 91 Owl trips would turn right on Claremont Boulevard, turn right onto Portola Drive, turn right onto Vicente Street and turn left to go south on West Portal Avenue.
