Safety fixes for 5th Street, Mission Street, and Geneva Boulevard are in motion
Two key safety projects were approved for dangerous corridors
Both the 5th Street Improvement Project and the Mission Street Excelsior Safety Project were approved by the SFMTA Board of Directors on Tuesday, and represent important wins for addressing some of the city’s most dangerous streets.
Wins on 5th Street include removing a lane and no-turn-on-red
5th Street is a pedestrian safety nightmare that can’t be fixed soon enough. We’re thrilled that not only were strong long-term improvements approved (more details below) that will be completed by 2021, but short-term safety improvements will break ground in about six weeks.
These improvements are a big and essential shift that is needed on many of the most dangerous streets: redesigning the street to give more space to people and keep traffic at safe speeds. A lane of traffic will be removed from 5th Street, as well as the northbound lane of parking to accommodate a fully-separated bikeway and calm traffic overall.
And… no-turn-on-red is coming to 5th Street. There will be no right turn on red restrictions (except bikes) at every major intersection, and no left turn restrictions added at five intersections. Walk San Francisco strongly supports no-turn-on-red as a way to prevent conflict in intersections, and we’re eager for a policy and more widespread use of this tool.
5th Street will also get key fixes like a raised crosswalk at the Minna Street alleyway, a protected intersection at Brannan Street, transit boarding islands, plus daylighting at all street and alleyway crossings. Hooray!
Thank you to everyone who spoke out for a strong project throughout the planning process, especially the many seniors who live on 5th and are clamoring for safer streets. Thanks also to SFMTA, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, and the Yerba Buena Community Benefit District for helping get this project over the finish line!
Mission Street and Geneva Boulevard are finally getting safety fixes!
We have been pushing for years for Mission Street and Geneva Avenue in the Outer Mission and Excelsior neighborhoods to get desperately-needed changes.
Over the last five years, three community members were killed and 262 people were injured in collisions on Mission Street and nearby Geneva Avenue. The intersection of Mission and Geneva is particularly dangerous, with the second highest number of crashes involving pedestrians in the entire city.
Thankfully on Tuesday, the SFMTA Board approved the Mission Street Excelsior Safety Project.
There’s a lot to be excited about in this project: the entire corridor will be daylighted at every intersection, and six new traffic signals will be added (including a midblock signalized crossing at Mission Street between Leo and Russia). Three raised crosswalks will be built. And at Mission Street and Ney, where Qiu Liang was hit and killed while crossing the street in 2017, major pedestrian improvements are being added.
Like on 5th Street, short-term safety improvements will break ground this year on Mission Street and Geneva Boulevard, which is good news for the many seniors, families, and children who walk here. We will continue to watchdog this project and push for it to go even farther for pedestrian safety, particularly in areas that kids and seniors frequent.
Banner image: SFMTA
