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 | Time for a continuous separated bikeway!The SF Bicycle Coalition's Great Streets Project is actively pushing for a better Market Street -- a great place to bike, visit, catch a (reliable) bus and generally enjoy. This is just the beginning. The City is currently scheduled to repave Market Street in 2013. Though there are many ways in which Market Street can be incrementally improved before then, the repaving date is a great opportunity to make significant improvements to our city's main street and achieve a fully separated bikeway the full length of Market St. 
Two ways you can bring a continuous separated bikeway to all of Lower Market Street:1. Ask your company to tell Mayor Newsom that it supports a fully separated bikeway on Market from Octavia Boulevard all the way to the Embarcadero. Mayor Newsom needs to hear from companies and organizations in San Francisco that a fully separated, continuous bikeway on lower Market Street is good for business, good for employee health and safety, and key to a vibrant future for our city's main street. E-mail Neal Patel at neal [at] sfbike DOT org to get started (we make it easy for you!). If you bike on Market Street to get to work, we are counting on your help to help show the Mayor that San Francisco businesses want this, by sending lots of letters before Bike to Work Day.2. Become a facebook fan of a Better Market Street Better Market Street ProjectThe City began implementing an exciting package of trial and short-term improvements to Market Street in Fall 2009. Modeled on Project for Public Spaces' "Place Diagram," the trials are the first layer of improvements to be tested before the 2013 repaving. (Project for Public Spaces is a partner in SFBC's Great Streets Project.) This exciting trial period is an opportunity to test and keep good ideas that make the street more attractive for bicycling, walking, transit and shopping. See the full project details here. The first phase of the improvement trials include:
BackgroundIn 1998, the SFBC worked with a coalition of members from the Green Party, Sierra Club, Market Street Merchants, and the SF Chamber of Commerce to better Market Street through four goals:
This coalition successfully won a $275,000 grant to study how to best achieve these goals. The result of this study was the San Francisco County Transportation Authority's 2004 Market Street Study Action Plan. The report and supporting technical memoranda show that Market Street is only lightly traveled by private autos and most of those autos don't actually need to be there (there's no parking or direct access to parking on Market Street). The SFBC would support exemptions for emergency vehicles, delivery trucks during certain time periods, taxis and cars with disabled placards. Due to lack of progress on implementing the 2004 action plan, the Transportation Authority updated its analysis of potential improvements to Market Street in 2009. In the meantime, there has been continued spirited debate about the potential for improvements on the street in the media and City Hall. More and more people embrace the reality that Market Street needs to be improved. It's time to capitalize on this momentum. See both SFCTA documents here. 
Why Market Street?Market Street is the most important street for bicyclists in San Francisco, potentially carrying more daily bicycle traffic than any other street in a major city center in the United States, if not North America. There were twice as many bicycles as cars on Market Street during rush hour on Bike to Work Day in both 2008 and 2009. Not surprisingly then, MTA counts show that bicycle ridership on Market Street increased by a whopping 30% between 2007 and 2008. Market Street is a critical link for bicyclists heading to and from downtown as well as connecting to regional transit (e.g. BART, Caltrain, ferries). A generally wide (about 120') right-of-way for most of its length, Market Street has the potential to be a beautiful and functional multi-modal street. What's the problem?Four out of the top 15 pedestrian injury collision intersections (27%) are on Market east of Van Ness. Lower Market Street does not provide a safe, continuous bikeway, creating a safety problem and discouraging potential bike commuters, with 8% of reported bicycle collisions occurring on or near Market east of Van Ness. An estimated 150,000 Muni passengers — or 20% of Muni's ridership — take surface buses and streetcars on routes that use Market Street each day. Delays on Market Street can affect these entire routes. Between the Embarcadero and 8th Street, Market Street is noticeably narrower and more congested with all forms of traffic, transit, and pedestrians. Between Octavia and Castro Streets, bicycle lanes exist already, however in a spotty fashion as lanes disappear and reappear intermittently. What's Next?We're working to implement the changes that were approved in the Market Street Study Action Plan and we continue to bring together a coalition of community-based groups and governmental agencies working together to improve transportation, safety and access conditions on one of the city's most important but chronically malfunctioning streets — Market Street east of Van Ness Ave. Who Supports Our Efforts?Organizations involved include: Walk San Francisco, Senior Action Network, Market Street Association, SF Chamber of Commerce, City CarShare, Sierra Club (SF chapter), Tenderloin Safe Communities Coalition, Rescue Muni, San Francisco Planning & Urban Research Association (SPUR), United Taxicab Workers, Market Street Railway, Yerba Buena Alliance, SF Green Party, Muni, SF Planning Department, SF Department of Parking & Traffic, SF Redevelopment Agency, SF Transportation Authority, and BART. ContactFor more information about Lower Market Planning, contact Kit Hodge at 415/431-BIKE x313 or info@sfgreatstreets.org, or Andy Thornley, SFBC Program Director, 431-BIKE x307 or andy@sfbike.org
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