Here’s a look at the latest updates received from the SFMTA on the Safer Taylor Street project, and other Vision Zero initiatives aimed at improving pedestrian safety in the Tenderloin.
-
Quick Build construction on Taylor Street started on Friday, June 14. The SFMTA paint crew were out on the street to erase the roadway paint during the morning. Starting at 1 AM on following Saturday morning, the SFMTA paint crew painted the new roadway configuration from Golden Gate Avenue to Sutter Street, including painted safety zones.
-
On Wednesday, June 19, the SFMTA Signal Shop also activated the left turn signal for northbound Taylor Street at Ellis Street.
These traffic safety improvements aim to encourage travel at safer speeds and improve pedestrian safety at intersections. The project will continue to monitor the installation and are open to receiving feedback about the new changes. The Safer Taylor Street team has also been meeting with stakeholders along the Taylor Street corridors to discuss urban design elements for the Streetscape project and the proposals will be shared in future outreach events.
Pedestrian Scramble at GG/Hyde
A pedestrian scramble was installed at Golden Gate and Hyde on June 13. City staff and community members placed multi-lingual Safe Spot posters at the intersection on June 14. These posters explain what a pedestrian scramble is and the benefits associated with the improvement.
Signal Retiming Project
A team of SFMTA engineers have been actively working on a signal retiming project for the past two years. The scope of this project is to retime all of the intersections in the Tenderloin, Western Addition, and south of Market Street to include pedestrian safety features like lead pedestrian intervals (LPI’s), slower crossing times, and slower vehicle progression speed. As part of this project, they are also evaluating intersections for additional measures like pedestrian scrambles. The Tenderloin portion will begin implementation over the summer, and include 60+ intersections!
Quick-Build Resolution and more!
Earlier this month under the direction of Mayor Breed, the SFMTA Board of Directors approved a quick- build policy to allow SFMTA staff to implement traffic safety projects without having to go through a lengthy approval process that can often take years and be costly. While the quick-build list mentions Leavenworth and Golden Gate, this is the first of upcoming requests to the board for additional quick-build projects. This doesn’t change our process of looking at the streets mentioned at our last meeting, and presenting potential improvements (and trade offs) to the TL community. In short, this resolution prepares us to be much more responsive to community input by acting immediately once we determine a common course of action.
You can check out the presentation by Tom Maguire, SFMTA Director of Sustainable Streets, to the board here and Mayor Breed’s most recent article here.
Header photo: Signage placement & community outreach surrounding the pedestrian scramble with TLCBD Safe Passsage, TNDC, and SFMTA
Comments are closed.