Monday, February 05, 2007
Traffic Calming on Cesar Chavez
This interesting article from BeyondChron.org about the politics of traffic calming on CC came out a few months ago, but we just found it now. This is a thorny issue, because some people stand to lose street parking, others fear traffic will be diverted onto their side streets (e.g. Precita).:
We think that reducing CC to 2 lanes in each direction and adding a center bidirectional turn lane (kind of like Valencia now has) would still allow room for parking and a dedicated bike lane.
Unfortunately, some of our neighbors disagree, and think that the reduction of lanes will cause more traffic to flow onto Precita.
We also think that the only thing that will slow people down is a photo-radar system, as much as we hate those kinds of things.
Much of the bad driving we've experienced comes from people swerving to get away from the left hand turning vehicles. A dedicated turning lane would solve this.
We know many in Precita Valley are concerned that the removal of lanes will make more traffic spill onto neighboring streets, but we believe the lane reduction will actually make traffic move more quickly on Cesar Chavez... while reducing the maximum speed that vehicles are traveling. It worked on Valencia.
Efforts to humanize the street, especially the stretch between the freeway maze and Guerrero, go back years. In the late 1990s, the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition proposed bike lanes for the two blocks between Bryant and the freeway. Neighbors got up in arms at the proposed loss of parking involved, and the coalition agreed to a compromise part-time lane on the south side only. An interesting byproduct of stormy meetings over this issue, however, was a unified disgust at the busy traffic that was making cyclists and neighbors alike miserable. Both sides took time out from disagreeing with each other to find common ground in a desire to make the street something other than a “traffic sewer.”
We think that reducing CC to 2 lanes in each direction and adding a center bidirectional turn lane (kind of like Valencia now has) would still allow room for parking and a dedicated bike lane.
Unfortunately, some of our neighbors disagree, and think that the reduction of lanes will cause more traffic to flow onto Precita.
We also think that the only thing that will slow people down is a photo-radar system, as much as we hate those kinds of things.
Much of the bad driving we've experienced comes from people swerving to get away from the left hand turning vehicles. A dedicated turning lane would solve this.
All these elements and history have gotten stirred up by a campaign put into motion last summer by a group of bicycle and pedestrian activists, neighbors, parents, and merchants. Monthly meetings have led to some concrete moves and a lot of heated discussion. The group, named C.C. Puede, or Cesar Chavez Si Se Puede, in honor of the UFW chant “Yes we can!”, collected over 600 signatures on petitions circulated in the neighborhood that suggest removing a lane of car traffic in each direction for the six-lane segment, installing bike lanes and left-turn pockets, and making crosswalk and other pedestrian improvements. Greening is proposed to reduce noise and pollution as well as slow traffic. The group has turned in the petitions to the DPT, with copies going to supervisors Dufty, Ammiano, and Maxwell and greening czar Marshall Foster.
We know many in Precita Valley are concerned that the removal of lanes will make more traffic spill onto neighboring streets, but we believe the lane reduction will actually make traffic move more quickly on Cesar Chavez... while reducing the maximum speed that vehicles are traveling. It worked on Valencia.
