Experience the Future of Market Street, April 9-11

Change is in motion on Market Street. There’s the fact that 67% of all Market Street traffic is now people on bikes (March broke ridership records). And then there’s Safer Market Street, the city’s project already in the works to improve this dangerous corridor through private auto restrictions anticipated that come to life this summer.

As Market Street makes progress toward becoming the grand boulevard that the SF Bicycle Coalition and many others have envisioned for decades, the upcoming Market Street Prototyping Festival will get even more possibilities for Market in motion, too.

On April 9-11, the festival will explore how new ideas and designs can help bring people from different neighborhoods and backgrounds together on our city’s busiest street.

About the Festival

The Market Street Prototyping Festival is a collaboration between the San Francisco Planning Department, the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the James L. Knight Foundation and will present up to 50 ideas and projects for making Market Street come to life. After the festival, some of these designs will be a part of the City’s Better Market Street initiative, which includes protected bike lanes on Market from Octavia to the Waterfront.

Exploring How Bicycles Enhance Public Space

Your San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has partnered with the Studio for Urban Projects and their mid-Market Outpost installation to highlight ideas to ‘soften the curb’ and further explore how people on bikes contribute to active and social public spaces. We encourage you to check out the entire festival schedule over the long weekend and to join us for the following special activities at the Outpost (full schedule):

Many thanks to the Studio for Urban Projects for their design vision, coordination, and interest in exploring the connections between placemaking and better biking!

Join the Market Street Campaign

Thursday, April 9
8:00-10:00AM – Bicycle Pit Stop
Come by to pump your tires or make an adjustment. Grab a coffee from Machine Coffee or the Hall and stay for a while – a welcome detour on your morning commute. This event is co-hosted by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

6:00-7:00PM – Tactical Urbanism: A Talk by Island Press Author Mike Lydon
Please join us for a conversation with Mike Lydon, the author of Tactical Urbanism: Short Term Action for Long Term Change, which captures the global context of experimental city planning. This event is co-produced by Island Press.

Friday, April 10
8:00-10:00AM and 4:00-6:00PM – Bicycle Pit Stop
Come by to pump your tires or make an adjustment. Grab a coffee from Machine Coffee or the Hall and stay for a while – a welcome detour on your morning commute. This event is co-hosted by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

Saturday, April 11
10:00AM-1:00PM – Drop-in Family Biking Lab
Come learn family biking tips and practical bicycle maintenance skills. Learn to change a tire, proper helmet fitting, and hand signals. Children are encouraged to participate. This event is co-hosted with Warm Planet Bicycles and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

2:00-4:00PM – Bike Tour: Pilots on Market Street
Join Paolo Cosulich-Schwartz from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition for a tour of the bike improvements along and near Market Street on  the busiest bike street west of the Mississippi. We will tour the bike counter, the separated bikeway, the Polk Street protected bike lane and other bicycling features while looking ahead to what Market Street could become as it is redesigned by the Better Market Street program. Bring your helmet and pick up a Bay Area bike share bike (7th & Market) if you don’t have one of your own. This event is co-hosted by the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.

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