Crews begin repaving center bike lanes on San Francisco's Valencia Street
Crews getting rid of Valencia Street center bike lanes in San Francisco
San Francisco crews are working on the next steps to get rid of the center bike lanes along Valencia Street.
SAN FRANCISCO - Bike lanes along San Francisco's Valencia Street have been removed and work is now underway to make them part of the roadway, once again.
San Francisco Municipal Transit crews on Monday were grinding and paving what used to be a center bike lane, a stretch between 23rd and 15th streets in the Mission District that will now look different.
After months of push back over the center bike lanes, the city decided to remove them.
Monday was the first day of construction with a long-term plan in place to install curbside bike lanes.
As of now, the center lanes are completely closed off to bikers as the process to remove them is underway.
These lanes were part of an SFMTA pilot project, but businesses pushed back.
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Many blamed the center bike lanes for taking foot traffic away from storefronts and even some biking advocacy groups argued the lanes were not as safe as planned.
"They not only put people closer to the curb, [but] they are farther and further separated from car traffic," said Luke Bornheimer, executive director of Streets Forward. "But also closer to businesses. We know people who use bikes for transportation actually end up spending more money at local businesses than people who drive."
Bornheimer is an advocate for bike and pedestrian safety. He promoted a model where a bike lane is in between a sidewalk and parked cars on the street.
"It'll be the sidewalks, bike lane, parked cars, then driving cars, so they'll be fully separated from the cars," he said.
What's next:
SFMTA says crews plan to complete at least one block per day, weather permitting.
Parking in the area will be restricted during construction, which is set to last for the next eight to 10 days.
The backstory:
The center-running bike lane was introduced as a pilot program in 2023, and was implemented in order to ease conflict between people on bikes and motorists while maximizing loading and parking for businesses in the area.