City opens protected bike lanes, boarding island and quick-build traffic improvements on Townsend Street
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Summary
San Francisco on March 10 celebrated quick-build multimodal safety improvements on Townsend Street, including a curb boarding island, protected bike lanes and bus pads; city officials credited interagency collaboration and said quick-build design avoided about $5 million in costs and two years of delay.
Mayor London Breed, joined by SFMTA and Public Works officials and local advocates, on March 10 celebrated the completion of quick-build safety improvements on Townsend Street near Caltrain, including a new block-long boarding island, protected bike lanes and bus boarding pads.
Mayor Breed said the project advances the city's Vision Zero safety goals and helps thousands of people who move through the area by foot, bike, scooter and transit. Alaric de Grafenreid, acting director of the San Francisco Department of Public Works, credited multiple trades and agencies for the collaboration that delivered the project; he said public-works crews installed paving, curb and concrete work to build the boarding island and pads.
Claire Amable, Tenderloin Summit community organizer for the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, said Townsend "is one of the most important streets in SoMa for biking, walking, and transit" and praised the new protected spaces for cyclists and pedestrians after a period when people were walking in the street. Jody Maderas, executive director of Walk San Francisco, called the changes “smart safety solutions” and urged the city to continue rapid, people-first street redesigns.
Jeffrey Tumblin, director of transportation for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, said quick-build design choices allowed the city to save "over $5,000,000 and about 2 years of delay" that moving utility poles would have required. He described the project as a pilot for further quick-build multimodal work and invited the public to a ribbon-cutting.
Project features described at the event included protected bike lanes, a bus boarding island to separate passenger loading from the bike lane, bus pads and clarified loading zones. City officials credited political support from supervisors and community advocates, and thanked partners including the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Walk San Francisco.
Why it matters: The quick-build project adds protected infrastructure intended to reduce conflicts among buses, bikes and pedestrians at a busy Caltrain access point and was presented as a model for delivering safety improvements faster and at lower cost.
Provenance: Remarks from Mayor Breed, SFMTA Director Jeffrey Tumblin, Public Works acting director Alaric de Grafenreid, and community advocates appear in the meeting transcript for the Townsend Street event.
