Will the City Stand by Vision Zero and #SaveLivesonPolk?

Polk Street – one of the city’s most dangerous and most traveled routes for people on bikes – is at a crossroads.

Plans to improve thirty blocks of Polk Street for people walking, biking and driving are in the works, with key hearings starting this Friday and a decisive SF Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors meeting in just a few weeks.  But despite the critical need to dramatically improve Polk Street, the current proposed plans are a lost opportunity to #SaveLivesonPolk.

Here are the numbers you need to know on Polk Street:

  • 90% of this stretch of Polk Street, from McAllister to Vallejo, is designated by the SF Department of Health as a “High Injury Corridor.”
  • Only 25% of the total road miles of the current proposal would get protected bicycle lanes.
  • 50% of the proposed project has ZERO protection for people biking.
  • 75% of people in the area walk, bike or ride transit to get around; the street should be designed for them!

Polk-Infographic-2015-horiz

The current proposed plans for Polk are a half-hearted and incomplete approach to safety, calling into question the City’s commitment to achieving Vision Zero and eliminating all traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2024. Green bike sharrows can be useful, but Polk needs a LOT more serious bicycle infrastructure to make it a comfortable street that’s safe for everyone.

Our vision for a safe Polk is straightforward: ambitious pedestrian improvements and a continuous, green and protected bikeway on all thirty blocks of the project area. To experience the latter, you don’t even have to leave Polk Street — just go to the award-winning, three fully-protected blocks of Polk from Market to Grove.  This shows what’s possible: protection for everyone, regardless of how they get around.

Help us achieve a great Polk Street. Email the SFMTA and Supervisor Julie Christensen today and urge them to ensure Polk gets the Vision Zero overhaul it needs. And if you aren’t a SF Bicycle Coalition member, join and support our ongoing work for a better Polk and San Francisco!

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