A bold move on Market
In a city that can find a political battle in the smallest policy change, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s unanimous Tuesday vote to ban private cars on Market Street, east of 10th street, was a pleasant surprise.
Even better? The onceradical plan, which has been in the works for about a decade, was greeted with citywide support. Everyone from Mayor London Breed to local business owners to bicycle activists has signed off on the idea of executing a big, bold change on one of the city’s most important thoroughfares.
There are excellent reasons why the final vote was greeted with such excitement.
The most basic reason is that it will save lives.
Market Street is a busy thoroughfare for all forms of transportation. Apart from cars, Market Street attracts 500,000 pedestrians every day, and 650 bicycles every hour during peak commute times. Its intersections also have a high number of crashes that kill or injure pedestrians and cyclists. Traffic fatalities have increased in San Francisco over the past two years — limiting the number of cars on a notoriously dangerous street will reduce crashes and, therefore, deaths.
There’s also great potential for other benefits. Beautifying the streetscape and creating a safer experience for pedestrians, bicyclists and transit riders could be the missing mix the midMarket area needs to attract legitimate businesses and reduce crime. Design does affect street life, and San Francisco can look to the example of other cities that have prohibited cars in some pedestriandense areas, like Santa Monica and Denver, for guidance.
The tradeoff for all of this good feeling is that it’s taken a decade and an exhaustive public process to get here, and it’s still not over yet.
City officials need to keep a close eye on the construction phase of this project to make sure it doesn’t run into the agonizing delays that seem to be par for the transportation project course in San Francisco.
Faster change means an easier transition for drivers — and the chance to save more lives.