4:38 PM: The SF MTA has announced that the first day of the Better Market Street Transportation Pilot Project has gone “smoothly,” which must be a pleasant change for the beleaguered transit org.
“Anecdotally” they report “less car traffic east of 8th Street made Market Street calmer for pedestrians and cyclists and allowed transit vehicles easier access to the center boarding islands.” Mush to the relief of all the matchstick-counting urban planning nerds, they hasten to add that the “SFMTA staff will gather data over the course of the pilot to verify the validity of these early observations.” We do love data!
9:56 AM: Two “traffic calming” measures went into effect this morning: Presidio Blvd is closed to cars between the Presidio Gate and Simmonds Loop, and, probably more significant for most of us, eastbound car traffic on Market Street between 10th and 6th Streets will be diverted.
Did these changes have any impact on your commute this morning? We haven’t heard anything from Presidio commuters (Matt?). Presidio commuter Matt Baume says “All’s well in the Presidio — they have cops at the barricades, and the bus just weaved around them. Nice not to have to worry about cross-traffic as much.” Anyone else have any feedback on the Presidio closure to cars?
On the Market commute, the main concern we’ve heard so far comes from eastbound cyclists and pedestrians, who report that since traffic is being encouraged or forced to make right turns off Market, they’ve had some near misses with drivers who have turned into them as they’ve been walking or riding forward.
How about you? Did you commute up Market (or to the Presidio) today? How did it go?
