precita.org

Mission Local has a good piece on the Cesar Chavez Redesign:

The first phase, which is likely to start this summer, involves redoing the sewage system to reduce flooding.

Above ground, the second phase will involve planting more trees, using energy-efficient street lights and converting the three lanes of traffic in each direction to two lanes. With concerns over safety, a 14-foot tree-lined median and widened curbs will be paved to decrease the time needed for pedestrians to cross the intersection. Bicyclists will also be able to enjoy the additional street space through permanent bike lanes.

More at Mission Local. It's all part of the Mission Streetscape Plan.

Labels: Cesar Chavez, News, Planning, traffic calming

Andres Power from the SF Planning Department provided some more information on the left turn lanes on Cesar Chavez, and how these were determined.

We were curious as to the size of the left turn pockets, as well as if U-Turns would be allowed. There was some confusion over U-turns being allowed at Folsom, and hence if traffic destined for Harrison or Alabama would end up going down Precita or 26th.

Andres told us that generally where there is a dedicated left turn pocket with a left turn arrow, u-turns are permitted. This will likely be the case at Folsom, although the plan has not been formalized yet. It should be noted that Bryant has a No U-Turn sign currently.

We gathered week-long 24-hour traffic counts at all the intersections along Cesar Chavez Street about three months ago.  This gave us the typical 24-hour distribution of car volumes, including left turns.  At Folsom, during the peak PM hour there were 39 cars turning left onto Folsom in the westbound direction and during the peak AM hour there were 30.  Again, these counts reflect the peak AM and PM hours.  At all other times of the day, volumes were about half.  But, as a matter of course, traffic engineers typically design the roadway for peak functions. In addition, if we assume that all cars that would have otherwise turned left at Alabama and Harrison will now turn left on Folsom (which is a conservative assumption, since many of the cars, as you point out, will make a u-turn at Folsom), the total left turn AM peak into Folsom will be 69 cars per hour and 73 cars per hour for the PM peak.  

You can do the math, but this distributes out to a little more than 1 car per minute turning left from Chavez into Folsom during the peak hours.  This is in contrast, for example, to the 213 cars turning left during the peak PM peak at Mission and the 208 cars turning left at Bryant. [Editors note: the left turn at Bryant is largely used by people getting onto 101 southbound from westbound Cesar Chavez.]

Therefore, with the volumes indicated above, and assuming a 90 second green-red-green phase, the cue, as modelled, during the peak hour would typically be between 3 and 4 cars.   The turning pockets are designed to include a buffer, hence the designed length of five to six cars.

He also clarified some information on the streets that would have left turn pockets: The original plan was to include left turns at Bryant, Folsom, South Van Ness (eastbound only) and Guerrero. Recently, left turn pockets at Mission Street and one at Valencia Street were added.

Labels: Cesar Chavez, Precita Valley Neighbors, traffic calming

The Cesar Chavez Design Team would like to invite you to the third community design workshop for Cesar Chavez Street.  At the first meeting last summer we discussed shared priorities and goals.  At our next workshop this past fall we looked at and chose a preferred design option based on those shared priorities and goals. At this third workshop, we will look at and discuss illustrations showing the preferred design, block by block, from Hampshire Street  to Guerrero Street.  This will be the final workshop in the series.

The workshop will be held Tuesday, February 24 at 6:30pm at Leonard Flynn Elementary School, 3125 Cesar Chavez Street at Harrison.

Please come and share your opinions.  There is background material, including summaries of past workshops, available for download.

Labels: Cesar Chavez

Saturday, February 7th, 10am – 11:00am at
Charlie’s Deli, 3202 Folsom Street -Folsom at Precita

David Robinson (285-5957) and Demece Garepis (641-0507) Co-Chairs.

AGENDA:

1. Andres Power, Project Manager in the SF Planning Dept for the Cesear Chavez Design Project, will hear our priorities for Cesar Chavez Design Review and requests we have to minimize increased traffic flow to NW Bernal.

2. 55 Manchester – another misuse of permit application by a former DBI inspector to build housing inconsistent with current zoning laws?

Labels: Cesar Chavez, construction, Precita Valley Neighbors

At least 25 people showed up for the PVN meeting last Saturday.



Andreas Power from the San Francisco Planning Department spoke at the PVN meeting about the Cesar Chavez improvements. There have been many ongoing workshops with the extended community, and a final design has been chosen.

The features will include:

• 14’ planted median


• Regular spacing of trees on median and sidewalks. As well as the purely aesthetic and environmental benefits, trees along roads are proven to slow down traffic.


• Corner bulb extensions at most intersections increase visibility an provide a shorter street crossing distance for pedestrians.


• Pedestrian refuge areas halfway through cross-walk in the median (a safe place for a pedestrian to stop who is unable to cross the entire street in the time available)


• Pedestrian lighting


• Bike lanes


• 4 lanes of traffic with turning pockets at Bryant, Folsom and Mission


• Stormwater planters, designed to catch street runoff and not funnel all the water into the City's storm drain system

One of the issues that has come up is the removal of the left turns on Alabama and Harrison. Some neighbors are concerned that this will put more traffic onto Precita for the people who want to get to Harrison or Alabama, but other thought that drivers would just make a U-turn at the streets where permitted.

The Planning Department cited a traffic study they did that counted traffic flows and turns, and found out that a very small number of cars turn left on Alabama or Harrison, and they believe that this will cause very minimal disruption.

One other issue had come up: while funds had been set aside for this project, the State budget crisis is impacting its progress. However, there is also belief that Federal Stimulus funds will be available to fund the project in the near future.

Labels: Cesar Chavez, Precita Valley Neighbors, pvn, traffic calming