One of three design options selected for San Francisco’s “Better Market Street” project includes changes to parallel Mission Street, officials with the city’s Department of Public Works announced today.
The $250 million project to makeover the Market Street corridor between Octavia Boulevard and the Embarcadero has three redesign options for officials to study further.
The options were selected after two rounds of public outreach last summer and preliminary analysis since 2011. They include the “Market Street Shared Lane” option, which maintains car, bike and bus lane divisions as is, and the “Market Street Bikeway” which would implement a cycletrack–a separated bike lane–on the main thoroughfare.
A third option, dubbed the “Market Street Transit Corridor and Mission Bikeway” alternative, would move the San Francisco Municipal Railway 14/14L-Mission bus lines to Market Street east of Van Ness Avenue and create a cycletrack on Mission Street.
All three options call for pedestrian, bicycle, public transit, and motorist improvements, including traffic signal changes, upgraded bus boarding areas, new lighting, landscaping, and restored plazas.
Although private cars are already required to turn off of Market Street at Sixth and 10th streets, the project does not have concrete plans for further car restrictions.
“We need to see what makes the most sense,” DPW spokeswoman Mindy Linetzky said.
However, in all cases motorists will still be able to cross Market Street.
More details of the three options will be presented to the public this summer, with plans for public workshops to garner further comment on the ideas.
In the meantime, the public is urged to get involved in the planning process. More information can be found online at www.bettermarketstreetsf.org.
The project is a collaborative effort between the Department of Public Works, the city’s Planning Department, Municipal Transportation Agency, the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, Office of Economic and Workforce Development and Mayor’s Office along with other city departments.
The project is scheduled to begin construction in 2017.
Sasha Lekach, Bay City News
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