S.F. bans cars from public plaza area in Hayes Valley.
Vehicles banned along Hayes Valley block
“It’s baffling to me that San Francisco doesn’t have more carfree streets.”
Morgan Sell, Hayes Valley resident
A neighborhood once crisscrossed by a doubledecker freeway may come to symbolize a new vision of public space in San Francisco — one that eschews the automobile.
Transportation officials voted Tuesday to ban cars from a block of Octavia Boulevard that borders Patricia’s Green, where pedestrians and cyclists jostle for space among delivery trucks and ridehail vehicles.
The “open street” plan would apply to both the northbound side, where cars zip by to turn left onto Hayes Street, and the southbound side that cuts to Linden Street.
With traffic cleared, officials would add a protected bike lane on Hayes Street and provide a path for emergency vehicles.
Board directors for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency approved the plan unanimously and asked agency staff to study what the directors said is the logical next step: extend the car ban from Linden to Fell Street and consider excluding cars from other blocks of Hayes Street.
“Maybe we can turn that street into a lovely little kind of oasis,” Director Cheryl Brinkman said, hours before the vote.
The idea appealed to Jose Gutierrez, who was sitting in a patio chair Monday on a large asphalt lot that borders the roadway. Lined with picnic furniture, bike racks and a juice stand, it filled with people during the languid July afternoon.
Diverting traffic from the roadway “would be great,” Gutierrez said. “When you cross the street, those cars are coming really fast.”
City leaders have bandied the idea of a carfree plaza since 2015, about the time that Uber and Lyft vehicles began swarming the road to get from downtown to the Haight district. SFMTA testran it several times — including a 17day closure last year — and drew approval from some residents.
Supporters of the redesign say it would make the strip safer for kids climbing the jungle gym, people lollygagging beneath the 15foot female Buddha statue and customers lining up at the nearby Biergarten and Smitten Ice Cream parlor. It would also ease congestion from cars making lefthand turns from the northbound lane on Octavia, which causes delays for the 21Hayes Muni bus.
“It’s baffling to me that San Francisco doesn’t have more carfree streets,” said Morgan Sell, who lives across the green.
But even small changes take time and stir conflict. Staff members at the transportation agency plan to remove 11 parking spaces to create a new geometry along Octavia, Linden and Hayes streets — and that alone raised objections from some Hayes Valley neighbors. Others feared that cars redirected from Octavia would jam the adjacent roadways, particularly Linden, a narrow alley of stuccoswathed apartment buildings. Transportation planners would switch its oneway direction from westbound to eastbound to prevent gridlock.
Despite lingering concerns, many people support the proposal. Some see it as a model for San Francisco’s future. SFMTA has long chipped away at a Better Market Street plan to turn cars away from the city’s main downtown thoroughfare, but officials are eyeing other streets that could be closed to motorists. Board Chairman Malcolm Heinicke has touted the concept, hoping to free buses and bikes from the tangle of traffic.
Other proponents say that San Francisco would become more inclusive and family friendly by turning roads into public space.
“We want a city that has families and children, so we have to create open space,” said Jason Henderson, a Hayes Valley resident who is also a professor of geography and environment at San Francisco State University. “When you do things like remove a freeway or repurpose a street, you make room for playgrounds and basketball courts.”
He suggested another intersection the city could close, on the other side of Hayes Valley: the end of Oak Street that touches Van Ness Avenue, stretching into Market Street.
Freeway demolition on Octavia helped reconnect Hayes Valley to the Lower Haight and Civic Center in the early 2000s, creating an enclave of chichi boutiques, taprooms and expensive homes. That area is now entering its next phase: new affordable and marketrate housing projects are going up near Patricia’s Green, and neighbors hope the city’s new openstreet approach will provide a safe zone for kids to play.
“I think it’s a great idea,” said Vanessa Ramalho, who was pushing her infant daughter in a stroller on Monday heading toward the jungle gym as a line of cars clogged the road.