On August 21st, GWPNA received confirmation that two of the three applications we submitted to the SFMTA Neighborhood Traffic Calming program were accepted into the evaluation phase for the 2014 program. The MTA will evaluate all applications between now and January 2014. During this time, the SFMTA will choose the top 25 applications for traffic calming. As part of the selection process they will conduct on-site speed and traffic count studies and research the collision history for each location under consideration. After that, they will rank all the applications for pedestrian risk, and select the top 25 for implementing pedestrian safety measures.
If they do select the locations we suggest, they will notify us in January of 2014, they will ballot our neighbors and hold a public hearing to ensure support for the project before doing any construction.
Our contacts at the SF MTA for this program include:
- Jeffrey Banks, (415) 701-5331, jeffrey.banks@sfmta.com
- Bridget Smith, Deputy Director – Livable Streets (415) 701-4500, bridget.smith@sfmta.com
Applications:
1) Ulloa St. between 15th Ave and West Portal Avenue – ACCEPTED
When we first submitted the application for this street, the MTA rejected it because we didn’t have enough signatures from neighbors who lived directly on Ulloa St. We needed to go back and get more than half of the homes with addresses between #900 and #1,300 Ulloa St. to sign the application form. The MTA counted 45 homes on that stretch of Ulloa St., so it meant we need 23 signatures — which were hard to get during Summer vacation. Luckily, they gave us a 7-day extension to collect the additional signatures and we were able to do it with the help of a small group of very dedicated volunteers.
2) Vicente St. between West Portal Ave and Madrone – ACCEPTED
Because there weren’t many homes with addresses on Vicente St. along this stretch, signatures wasn’t a problem. Also, since the most recent pedestrian death occurred on Vicente St. at West Portal Ave, the MTA seemed very willing to consider this application for traffic calming.
3) West Portal Ave at 14th Ave – REJECTED
Unfortunately the Neighborhood Traffic Calming program is limited to residential streets, so our application for traffic calming at the intersection of West Portal Ave. and 14th Ave., was rejected. We will continue to pursue some sort of pedestrian safety improvements at this dangerous intersection through other programs.