— By Kevin Montgomery (@kevinmonty) |
Looks like the bike lanes along Chavez that would have established a safe route from the Mission to the Dogpatch that everyone was so psyched about has been scrapped due to concerns about its impact on traffic. Mission Local reports:
The cause of the abrupt change of plan, said David Beaupre, planner for the Port of San Francisco, was lack of communication between groups working on different transportation plans for the city. […]Removing one eastbound lane on Cesar Chavez and replacing it with a bike lane on each side of the street has been a part of MTA plans for Cesar Chavez since at least 2009. The plans themselves were the result of two years of collaboration between the San Francisco Planning Department, the SFTMA, Department of Public Works, the Public Utilities Commission, and multiple community groups.
But, said Beaupre, when the Cesar Chavez redesign was being planned by the MTA, the Planning Department’s visions for Cesar Chavez were not taken into account. Although the two agencies have been in talks for many months now, it was only recently that the MTA abandoned the bike lane plan as it stands now. […]
Turning an eastbound lane of an already narrow and busy street could lead to 1,200 to 1,500 foot-long columns of idling trucks, said James Shahamiri, an assistant engineer for the MTA. A number of businesses in the area had expressed concern about the lanes impacts on the flow of goods, he added. Belatedly, the MTA realized that their project was not being real consistent with the Planning Department’s goals, he said.
Comments (2)
Cars! Why!
Seriously this is too bad, it would radically improve the accessibility to Cal Train, Third Street and that Bev Mo if there was a bike lane through that underpass and upper Chavez.
I can understand the fear of a giant line of trucks though to. That street is already a mess.
No good answer I guess.
I was at the meeting about this the other night, and a key thing that got a bit lost in the Mission Local article is that the MTA reps promised that a bike lane still would be installed. They said they’ve decided they have to keep 2 traffic lanes in both directions, which means that the bike lane will most likely be created by eliminating some or all parking instead.
The downside is that it will take 6 to 9 months and the potential worse downside is that, if parking lovers complain as loudly as the traffic lane lovers apparently did, I think there’s a risk of MTA abandoning the whole thing in the end. But for now, they’ve promised the bike lanes will still get there eventually.