The SFMTA recently completed the Sloat Boulevard Quick-Build Project, adding another protected bike lane to San Francisco’s bicycle network. The project was approved in 2023, but only finished construction early this year. Your San Francisco Bicycle Coalition has advocated for this project for years and we are thrilled to see it completed.
This project added approximately 0.6 miles of two-way protected bike lane between Sunset Dunes and Skyline Boulevard. The bike lane runs along the length of the San Francisco Zoo and is an extremely exciting addition to San Francisco’s all-ages and abilities bicycle network because it closes a huge gap in the southwest corner of SF. The project also made improvements to pedestrian crossings, accessibility, and installed transit boarding islands.
Sloat Blvd is on San Francisco’s 2022 High Injury Network, the 13% of streets that disproportionately account for 68% of the city’s severe and fatal traffic collisions. Quick-build interventions on high injury streets have shown to reduce collisions and injuries and make people feel safer navigating their city.
In the planning process, we were disappointed to see the intersection of Sloat Blvd and Skyline Blvd remain mostly unchanged. We told the project team that it is unintuitive and confusing for people biking and rolling to be directed to use the numerous crosswalks to cross the intersection. Unfortunately, with the limited scope of quick-builds, the SFMTA project team determined this was the most they could do for now. We also hear from many members that it can be confusing to navigate between Lake Merced Blvd and Sloat Blvd. Your San Francisco Bicycle Coalition will continue to advocate for better wayfinding to direct people between the Lake Merced and Sloat Blvd bike lanes.
With the completion of this project, you can now bike from the southern tip of Lake Merced all the way to Golden Gate Park on protected or separated infrastructure. That is over 5 miles of all-ages and abilities infrastructure on our western coast that connects people to home, school, work, shopping and more. Sloat Blvd will now seamlessly connect people to Sunset Dunes, San Francisco’s third most-visited park, providing safe routes for people walking, biking, rolling or taking transit. This is a huge victory for street safety and we will keep working until we have a fully protected, interconnected network of biking and rolling infrastructure across the whole city.
