The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency will embark on a $6.6 million project to add pedestrian safety improvements and improve service reliability along the 71 Haight/Noriega corridor, SFMTA officials said Saturday.
The SFMTA Board of Directors voted to approve the project on Tuesday, according to the SFMTA’s website. The improvements are part of a larger effort called Muni Forward that proposes changes on many of the city’s bus lines.
Officials said the project is expected to save approximately six minutes round trip for the route and get the city closer to its Vision Zero goals, which aim to eliminate all traffic-related deaths by 2024.
“This project will make Muni more reliable, safe and comfortable for so many people who rely on public transit,” SFMTA chairman Tom Nolan said in a statement. “At the same time, this project will allow for key pedestrian safety improvements that support the city’s Vision Zero policy to eliminate all pedestrian deaths in 10 years.”
The project will eliminate a number of bus stops and add pedestrian bulb-outs along the route, officials said.
According to the SFMTA’s website, the upgrades will add to the streamlined commute offered by the recently completed transit-only lane on Haight Street and will complement a planned service increase for the 71, which is expected to go into effect in 2015.
Construction on the new bulb-outs and elimination of certain bus stops will begin in the spring of 2015, said SFMTA spokesman Paul Rose.
Erin Baldassari, Bay City News
