Should SFMTA be closing driving lanes to the freeway?

Background:

This is another project designed to make driving miserable in order to force people out of cars. Several ConnectedSF members have reached out about this Project, including one who crafted a Substack post raising concerns about the project's impact and lack of community engagement. CLICK HERE to read the related Substack article, which includes links to original SFMTA documents.

Approved by the SFMTA Board in October 2022, this $13.6 million redesign will permanently alter a three-block stretch of Duboce Avenue and 13th Street. This major corridor connects to Highway 101 and serves tens of thousands of drivers, emergency vehicles and small businesses daily.

The project removes car lanes, reroutes cyclists through active freeway ramps, and adds a pedestrian crossing directly at the 101 on-ramp (how is that safer?)— all based on traffic volume data collected in March 2021, when SF schools were still closed, most were working from home and pandemic conditions distorted real usage.

Even in 2021, according to SFMTA’s own data: more than 7,000 vehicles used the corridor during 2 peak hours, while only 27 cyclists were counted during the same time period. Despite this vast discrepancy undeniably favoring vehicle need, the agency has moved forward with removing a traffic lane to install a two-way protected bikeway, without any cost-benefit analysis.

Revamping this corridor and on-ramp will increase congestion, pollution, road rage, anger with SFMTA and further deteriorate quality of life in San Francisco.

Send an email today.

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Message to Mayor Lurie, SFMTA Board, 13th Street Project Team, and the Board of Supervisors

Dear Mayor Lurie, SFMTA Board, 13th Street Project Team, and Board of Supervisors,&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;The so-called “13th Street Safety Project” is a dangerous misstep—both in terms of public safety and San Francisco’s economic recovery.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;According to SFMTA’s own data, 7,000 cars and just 27 bicycles use this corridor in a two hour period. That disparity is not a typo. Yet this project would upend the flow of people and goods in San Francisco, restricting a vital commuter, commercial, and emergency route based on outdated assumptions and without a credible cost-benefit analysis.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;The proposed design heightens—not reduces—risk: forcing cyclists through freeway interchanges, routing pedestrians across 101 on-ramps, and increasing congestion on a critical thoroughfare. All this in the name of “Vision Zero”? It’s both reckless and counterproductive.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Worse, the community has had no meaningful input. The plan was first floated during pandemic lockdowns—when schools were closed and offices empty. It’s now being revived without updated data or engagement, despite its irreversible impact on drivers, businesses, and emergency services.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;I urge you to pause this project, conduct a modern traffic study using current data, and re-engage the public. Better yet, focus improvements on less critical streets like 11th, 14th, or McCoppin, and leave key arteries alone.&#13;&#10;&#13;&#10;Thank you.&#13;&#10;

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What is SFMTA thinking? The 13th Street "Safety" Project increases confusion, congestion and conflict.