Valencia Street bike lanes to be moved back to the side of the road
SAN FRANCISCO - After a year-long pilot program putting bike lanes in the center of Valencia Street, San Francisco will now be moving them back to the sides of the road. It's a move that many businesses, cyclists and even drivers have wanted.
Shortly after the one-year pilot for center running bike lanes on Valencia Street got underway, the complaints started rolling in. Businesses said the changes made parking for customers and deliveries nearly impossible. Cyclists complained about having to cross from the sides of the road to the center lanes.
Now, the city says it's finalizing plans to return the bike lanes to the sides of the road, and has been focused on three goals.
"Number one, improving safety for all road users," said Viktoriya Wise from San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. "Two is maintaining economic vitality for this important corridor and three, essentially ensuring that there's safe movement for goods and people on the corridor."
The SFMTA said it is working on finalizing a plan that will allow the bike lanes to move to the sides, and meander around parklets on the street. The lanes will have a buffer making sure cyclists can skirt by without having to worry about a car door opening in their path.
"Because the main issue right now is when the cars in the middle and the bikes are in the outside, you can still get ‘doored’ or cars pull in our out or double park," said cyclist Amara Davis. "So, I think that would be the best idea. I don't know but I hope that's what they do."
The SFMTA said it's worked on the plan for months, meeting with cyclists, drivers, businesses and residents in the area to get input on how the million dollar make-over should work, and have most of the details worked out. "We've reached a very good place and we are very, very close to a final design," said Paul Stanis from the SFMTA.
It's not just cyclists who say they like the move to the sides of the road. Drivers also say they prefer side running bike lanes.
"Back to what it used to be before," said Marco DeLeon. "Yes."
The SFMTA hopes to have the final plans for the eight-block stretch of Valencia in place and in front of the SFMTA board in November. They're hoping to get the project underway in January, just after the holidays.
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