More time to enjoy Twin Peaks view
Extension of traffic closure a boon for joggers, cyclists
With sweeping vistas that give visitors a surreal feeling of staring down at a living postcard, Twin Peaks ranks high on San Francisco’s must-see list for tourists and locals alike. For decades, a drive to Twin Peaks and around its namesake hills with a stop at the viewing area at Christmas Tree Point was a must-do.
So when the Municipal Transportation Agency decided in 2016 to chop the graceful figure-eight Twin Peaks Boulevard in two and close the eastern half — the side with the best view — to cars and buses, an outcry ensued over traffic safety and the sense of changing a San Francisco icon.
The agency intended it as an experiment to make it safer for walkers, joggers and bicyclists by giving them a place free of the cars and tour buses that regularly make their way up Twin Peaks, and to create a more parklike experience.
Now, two years later, the MTA and the Recreation and Park Department, with contributions from many Twin Peaks visitors, have deemed the test a success, and plan to make it permanent — and the area prettier. On Tuesday, the MTA Board of Directors approved a two-year extension of the experiment to give the city time to devise a permanent design.
The decision came after more than 58 percent of 438 people who replied to an online survey, MTA officials said, favored making the project permanent, including 71 percent of people walking and 73 percent of bicyclists. Drivers are
traveling at safer speeds, with those exceeding 30 mph down by 77 percent, officials said.
“I remember people predicted chaos, destruction, vehicles crashing into trees,” said Sasha McGee, a San Francisco resident who often visits Twin Peaks. “Obviously that hasn’t happened.”
Not everyone supports the changes, though. The Twin Peaks Improvement Association, whose members live in the neighborhoods below the landmark, fought the plans in 2016 and still oppose them.
Before the reconfiguration, motorized traffic flowed mostly one-way atop Twin Peaks on roads with no sidewalks or bike lanes. But in 2016, driven in part by a crash in December 2012 that killed a 56-yearold tourist as she walked along the road, the MTA banned motor vehicles from the east side. Cars, trucks and buses were redirected to the west side, where they now travel in both directions with a single lane each way.
Dona Crowder, the association president, said the old configuration seemed safer because traffic on both sides of the peaks made it more likely criminals would be deterred by the possibility of being seen by a larger number of people and because it allowed drivers to see the view without having to park and walk away from their cars, exposing them to thieves.
“It’s forcing people to get out of their cars and walk around for the views, which we think is a security issue for their person, and also their car,” she said.
San Francisco police say, however, the new configuration makes it easier for them to patrol the area, particularly the Christmas Tree Point parking area.
For many visitors, the desire to drive around the peaks seems to have been supplanted by an appreciation of a peaceful place to enjoy the view without having to watch out for cars.
“This is really nice,” said Mona Small, 65, a retiree from Philadelphia in town with her husband, Bob, to visit grandchildren. “It’s always nicer to walk where you don’t have to worry about getting hit.”
While the view atop Twin Peaks and the surroundings is beautiful, the former roadway now dedicated to pedestrians and bicyclists is rather spartan, devoid of benches, tables or landscaping. MTA officials used thigh-high portable concrete barriers, paint and signs in 2016 to turn the figure eight into a pair of figure threes. The lone physical improvement was the removal of the yellow stripe dividing the lanes of the section of road now dedicated to people on foot or bike.
During the two-year extension of the Twin Peaks test, Recreation and Park planners will hold community meetings, design proposed improvements, conduct environmental studies and find money to pay for it all. The MTA will need to approve the road changes again in 2020 to make them permanent.
Atop Twin Peaks on Wednesday, just after the clouds cleared, most visitors liked the idea.
Melanie Raines, 35, a restaurant worker who lives in Noe Valley, runs up Twin Peaks and along the closed stretch of road every couple of weeks.
“I don’t have to worry about cars or about people. Most of them are tourists who don’t know where they’re going,” she said. “That’s great.”
Some weren’t so sure about the plan.
Serf Rodriquez, 68, a postal worker, grew up in San Francisco and attended Mission High before moving to Seattle decades ago. He said he misses driving along the east side and seeing the view.
“This used to be our old make-out spot,” he said, as his wife, Maggie Rodriguez, 68, a quality-control worker, shook her head. “Sometimes change is for the best, and sometimes it’s not.”
“It’s always nicer to walk where you don’t have to worry about getting hit.” Mona Small, tourist visiting Twin Peaks from Philadelphia