By Noah Baustin : sfstandard – excerpt
San Francisco city leaders broke ground Monday on a nearly decade-in-the-making street redesign that will transform one of the city’s main arteries that carries vehicles to downtown.
The Folsom Street streetscape project will remake the bustling thoroughfare across the entire SoMa neighborhood, from 11th Street to Second Street. While drivers are currently able to travel in three, and sometimes four, lanes on Folsom Street, the project will permanently funnel vehicle traffic into two lanes. Meanwhile, builders will add a transit-only lane on the 1.3-mile strip and install a two-way bikeway protected from vehicles by concrete islands.
“This project is about making the South of Market neighborhood a safer, more inviting place to walk, bike, shop and take transit,” Supervisor Matt Dorsey said. “Obviously, there’s going to be cars, too, but this is what 21st century urbanism is.”
The Folsom Street rebuild is part of a long series of projects aimed at San Francisco’s goal of pushing people away from driving cars and trucks and toward taking transit, biking and walking. By the year 2030, the city hopes to ensure that at least 80% of trips taken in San Francisco use methods that produce low amounts of carbon emissions, including riding transit, walking, biking, driving electric vehicles and carpooling…(more)
SFMTA must finish what they started before digging any more holes and closing any more businesses! Candidates for Mayor might want to consider how to stop this plan if they are serous about reviving downtown San Francisco. After turning Market Street into a disaster, this one is guaranteed to put the lid on the coffin. The voters deserve a chance to reconsider the policies and priorities the SFMTA has been running on, while digging its own financial grave. The gravy train has running out and the voters are running out of patience.
Before they dig any more holes, the SFMTA needs to finish Taraval and the rest of the projects that have dragged on for years. They must prove they can finish something before they start a new project. So far they have failed to do anything well, on time, and without major flaws. Let’s get the downtown moving again before we destroy another street!