Photo from the SFMTA.
Have you biked northbound on the Embarcadero recently? You may have noticed the shiny new bike signal with a fresh green bike box to help people biking turn left onto North Point Street.
The new bike box to guide people on bikes making a left turn from Embarcadero to North Point Street. Photo from the SFMTA.
This signal is part of a series of near-term improvements the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is making on the Embarcadero as the City continues long-term planning to redesign San Francisco’s iconic waterfront. The new designs will include protected bike lanes from AT&T Park to Fisherman’s Wharf. Sign up for updates on how to advocate for the best possible design.
Thanks to the new bike signal and bike box, people on bikes can now make the left turn onto North Point by crossing the intersection going north and then waiting in the green box for the bicycle signal to cross again going west. This is called a two-stage turn, which allows people on bikes to make right or left turns at intersections with multiple traffic signals. This design is appearing all around the city, including the intersection of Market and Polk where a bike box and a bike signal allow people riding to make a left onto the Polk Street contraflow.
Bike box at Market and Polk streets.
You may have also seen new stencils on the Embarcadero Promenade south of the Ferry Building. Earlier this year the SFMTA worked with the Port of San Francisco to install these markings to remind people that the Embarcadero Promenade is a shared space for everyone, whether you’re walking, biking, jogging or otherwise. In the next couple of months, bike lanes will be striped to fill in gaps going southbound between Mission and Howard streets as well as northbound between Folsom and Howard streets. Markings to guide bicycles through intersections will be added at Battery Street, and all bike lanes on the Embarcadero will be painted green to improve visibility and discourage double parking.
These new fixes have an immediate impact on our everyday riding experience, but our vision is much grander for what a world-class biking experience along our iconic waterfront should be. Make sure to sign up for our campaign updates above to help us shape that vision.
