Photo: SFMTA
After almost two months of delay, the City will start construction on the Fell Street protected bike lane pilot in August. Originally set to debut in July, this crucial pilot project faced pushback from the SF Fire Department (SFFD) and construction was put on hold. Now, thanks to the leadership of Supervisor Dean Preston and your SF Bicycle Coalition, planners were able to work with SFFD to ensure this pilot could move forward with everyone on board.
Throughout the pandemic, the Panhandle has been packed with people walking and biking, and safety improvements to make social distancing easier were long overdue. For this pilot project, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency will install a westbound parking protected bike lane along the entirety of the north edge of the Panhandle, repurposing one of the four vehicle lanes to allow people who bike and walk to have more space to do so in a safe, socially-distanced way.
Fell Street is moving forward as an emergency response to the COVID-19 pandemic, much like the Slow Streets across our city. But there are still neighborhoods that have no Slow Streets four months into our current shelter-in-place order. All residents in SF need open spaces to walk and bike in during this order, especially those in our densest neighborhoods like the Tenderloin. You helped us push Fell Street forward, now can you help us highlight the need for the Tenderloin?
The SFMTA is meeting on Tuesday, July 21. Write a letter now to let them know that changes are also long overdue in the Tenderloin.
