Thursday, February 11, 2021

Geary Rapid Project Provides Safer Crossings

Geary Rapid Project Provides Safer Crossings
By Amy Fowler

Pedestrian crossing Geary Boulevard in the Richmond

A new traffic signal, crosswalk striping, pedestrian bulbs and streetlights help improve safety for people walking at Geary and Cook

The Geary Rapid Project may be best known for helping to make 38 Geary trips—well, more rapid. But, along with improving transit performance and reliability along a three-mile stretch of Geary, an equally important feature of the project is to make the streets safer.  

Geary is part of the high-injury network, and people walking there are eight times more likely to be involved in a serious or deadly collision than the average San Francisco street. Highway-like conditions on Geary Boulevard in the Western Addition make for challenging crossings. And the Tenderloin to the east, with its high concentration of children, seniors and people with disabilities, is uniquely vulnerable to traffic violence.

Fortunately, many of the safety improvements included in the Geary Rapid Project have already been completed, with more underway. Here are a few highlights:

  • New crosswalks. Steiner Street has a new look since the non-ADA compliant and seldom-used pedestrian bridge was removed last May. The surface-level crosswalk on the west side of the intersection, where the bridge had been, has been improved with new median refuges, while the east side is sporting a newly activated crosswalk. At Webster, two new crosswalks were built across Geary to supplement the Japantown pedestrian bridge. When the final striping and decorative pavers are completed, the new crosswalks will be not only be safer, but easier on the eyes.
  • New traffic signals. A new traffic signal at Cook Street was just turned on in January and another signal at the intersection of Commonwealth/Beaumont will be activated this spring, which means every crosswalk on Geary Boulevard as far west as 31st Avenue will benefit from signals.
  • New pedestrian countdown signals. The Fillmore intersection, which had no pedestrian countdown signals crossing Geary, now has them at all four crosswalks. And Divisadero, Scott and Laguna streets also gained countdowns for people crossing along Geary, so now every signalized intersection on the Geary corridor—over five miles—has countdowns.
  • Signal rephasing and “leading pedestrian intervals.” Re-timed traffic signals at the Masonic intersection added more time to cross the street and protection for westbound bicycles turning left. Other intersections, such as Scott Street, received upgrades to give people walking a head start before vehicles.
  • New "pedestrian bulb-outs” between Stanyan and Market streets. These curb extensions shorten crossing distances for people walking and encourage vehicles making turns to slow down.
  • Left turn safety. Left turns are one of the leading causes of traffic collisions. At Geary and Leavenworth, a protected left turn arrow was added for northbound traffic to separate people walking from turning vehicles.

Based on advocacy from local communities, we also added safety improvements that weren't envisioned in the initial Geary Rapid Project design. For example, a new traffic signal will be installed at Commonwealth Avenue. "The crosswalk on Geary at Beaumont and Commonwealth has been a dangerous intersection for many years," noted Tom Barton, a long-time Richmond resident who campaigned for the signal. "Having a crossing signal there will provide a safe way to cross, especially with heavy traffic, for myself and families, and other people crossing there."  

Last summer, following a tragic fatality at Geary and Gough, the SFMTA met with District Supervisors Preston and Stefani as well as local residents, who expressed a desire for additional safety measures such as reducing the speed limit near senior facilities. While existing state law makes it difficult to lower speed limits, the SFMTA was able to make use of a seldom-used exemption to reduce the speed limit on Geary from 35 to 25 mph on blocks near senior centers: between Gough and Laguna, Steiner and Scott, and Baker and Lyon streets.

Final safety improvements planned as part of the Geary Rapid Project include building a new signalized crosswalk at Buchanan Street, completing the remaining traffic signal upgrades and pedestrian bulb-outs and roadway restriping to “calm the Expressway.” Those are expected to be completed this summer.

For more information visit the Geary Rapid Project website.



Published February 12, 2021 at 04:17AM
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Wednesday, February 10, 2021

Speed and Turn Limits to Boost Safety on Tenderloin Streets

Speed and Turn Limits to Boost Safety on Tenderloin Streets
By Benjamin Barnett

The SFMTA is undertaking two new traffic safety improvements as a part of our Tenderloin Traffic Safety project: (1) prohibiting vehicle turns on red at approximately 54 intersections and (2) reducing vehicle speed limits to 20 miles per hour on 17 corridors.

Map showing speed limit reduction to 20mph neighborhood-wide between: Grove Street (south), Sutter Street (north), Mason Street (east), and Van Ness (West). Showing no turn on red regulations neighborhood-wide inclusive of Grove Street (south), Sutter Street (north), Mason Street (east), and Polk Street (west)

(Accessible Engineering details)

Map identifying all Tenderloin corridors and intersections where 20 mph speed limits and No Turn on Red will be implemented.

The Tenderloin is home to many of our most vulnerable communities including historically marginalized groups such as people with disabilities, communities with limited-English proficiency and those living in single-room occupancy hotels (SROs) and supportive housing. At the same time, every single street in the Tenderloin is a part of the city’s High Injury Network -- the 13 percent of San Francisco streets that account for 75 percent of severe traffic injury collision and fatalities. The gravity of the situation in the Tenderloin means we cannot delay taking actions that will improve safety for everyone in this critical neighborhood.

No Turn On Red

Photo of no turn on red sign at intersection of Golden Gate and Jones

Prohibiting turns while facing a red traffic signal is a proven method for reducing intersection conflicts. This includes both right turns and legal left turns from one one-way street to another. We will be piloting this new program at approximately 54 intersections in the Tenderloin. The program doesn’t include intersections that already have an existing turn prohibition, pedestrian scramble or are not signalized.

Turning on red may be the norm in many driving situations, but should not be on bustling Tenderloin streets. In a study conducted by Department of Public Health and SFMTA of crashes at signalized intersections, turns on red accounted for nearly 20% of turn-related crashes. These were largely clustered in the Tenderloin.

Heavy vehicular traffic in the Tenderloin provides little opportunity for drivers to safely make the turn on red, which leads to vehicles blocking crosswalks while drivers look left trying to find a gap in oncoming traffic. Drivers quickly executing their turn may fail to see a pedestrian legally crossing from the right which can result in an injury collision.

The legislative process for the No Turn on Red program will start in early 2021, with an expected Spring 2021 rollout. No Turn on Red signs will be posted on signal mast arms and poles notifying motorists of the prohibition.

20 mph Speed Limits

Another innovative approach we are taking to make the Tenderloin a safer place for pedestrians is lowering the speed limit from 25 mph to 20 mph. We will put this limit into effect on every corridor in the neighborhood. Vehicle speed is the number one predictor of crash severity. A pedestrian struck at 20 mph versus 25 mph has double the chance of survival. Lowering speed limits to better reflect conditions in the Tenderloin will provide tangible safety benefits in advance of any future engineering changes that can be made. For example, a recent study from Seattle, Washington demonstrated that posting new, lower limits led to reductions in speeds and collisions, even in the absence of streetscape or enforcement changes.

Learn More

For more details, please visit our project page, where you can also read about the community partners who were vital in planning these improvements.

 



Published February 10, 2021 at 10:44PM
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Tuesday, February 9, 2021

Time to Park? Know Your Meter

Time to Park? Know Your Meter
By Jonathan Streeter

image of a parking meter

Meters help businesses and others in high demand areas of San Francisco by ensuring that people driving cars will use just the amount of time they need when temporarily parking.  As such, the SFMTA recently made a simple but important update to how parking meters operate when paying for parking with a credit card.

Now, when paying by credit card, the meters will default to two hours of parking time. The previous default credit card charge was $0.25. In many areas of the city, that provides a few minutes of parking!  While the new default is 120 minutes, customers may still choose the precise amount of time they want to park by using the up and down buttons on the meter.  For example, if a customer wants to park for only 15 minutes, they may use the down button until the correct amount of time it is selected. Previously, a customer would have to use the up button to increase the amount of desired time.

The change to the credit card default was made for a few reasons:

•             The average time cars park at meters is around an hour and a half.  Most customers were required to press the “up” button repeatedly in order to get to their desired amount of parking time.

•             Before this change, parking meters saw a very high number of $0.25 transactions—many of those are likely customers who didn’t realize they would only be charged for just a few minutes of parking time if they did not use the up button to increase the amount of time needed.  When customers purchase the minimum amount of time without realizing it, they risk getting a ticket. By defaulting to an amount of time closer to the average time purchased, we hope to help more people avoid parking tickets for an expired meter.  Under the new default, we’ve seen a significant decline in $0.25 credit card transactions.

•             Customers who accidentally purchase only $0.25 worth of time often must immediately complete another transaction to purchase the amount of parking time they want.  When customers make two separate transactions, the city is charged two transaction fees.  Increasing the default time helps avoid double transactions and double fees. 

And please note: this change applies only to credit or debit card payments: the payment procedure for cash or pay-by-phone has not changed.

For more information visit our parking meter web page.



Published February 09, 2021 at 10:26PM
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Monday, February 8, 2021

More Inspired Virtual Backgrounds from Muni Art

More Inspired Virtual Backgrounds from Muni Art
By Sophia Scherr

Whether you're working, teaching, learning or socializing on-line, you can now do it in style by showing up to your next virtual meeting with the new Muni Art 2021 backgrounds. Download, save and use the Muni Art backgrounds for any of your preferred video chatting platforms and brighten someone’s day. 

Click on any of the images below and when it opens in a new tab, save to your device.

For the latest COVID-19 related transit updates please visit SFMTA.com/COVID-19. We hope that you and your family continue to stay safe.

Kundan Baidwan

Artwork by Kundan Baidwan

artwork by Kundan Baidwan

Artwork by Kundan Baidwan

 

Agustina Caprioglio

Artwork by Agustina Caprioglio

Artwork by Augustina Caprioglio

 

John Keating

Artwork by John Keating

Artwork by Deirdre Weinberg

Artwork by Deirdre Weinberg

 

Wes Wellner

Artwork by Wes WellnerArtwork by Wes Wellner

Artwork by Wes Wellner

Artwork by Wes Wellner

 

Bonus Easter Egg: Senator Bernie Sanders on the F line

Photo of F Line car interior with an image of Senator Bernie Sanders superimposed



Published February 09, 2021 at 01:23AM
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