Press Release

Announcement comes as City wraps up the Valencia Great Streets Project

7/15/10 - Mayor Gavin Newsom today unveiled the final draft of the Better Streets Plan (BSP), a plan that provides for the first time, a unified set of standards and guidelines governing the design of all city streets. The BSP calls for a fundamental rethinking of how the City designs, builds and maintains city streets, while emphasizing transit, cycling and walking.

“The Better Streets Plan incorporates sustainable design to make our streets safer and more welcoming, and seeks to transform our streetscapes and enhance our neighborhood quality of life,” said Mayor Newsom. “We need only look to Valencia Street, Divisadero Street and other projects to see the profound positive impact these streetscape improvements can have on our neighborhoods. I commend all those involved in the drafting of this plan for their work.”

• The BSP contains a wide range of guide¬lines relating to streetscape and pedestrian facilities. Major themes and ideas include:
  Distinctive, unified streetscape design: Street trees as defining the streetscape rhythm; integrated site furnishings; regular pedestrian-oriented lighting; minimizing cluttering elements.
• Space for public life: Safe, usable public seating for neighborhood gathering; generous curb exten¬sions for seating and landscaping; reclaiming of excess street space for public use; space for outdoor café and restaurant seating and merchant displays.
• Enhanced pedestrian safety: Safe, convenient pedestrian crossings; curb radii and curb exten¬sions that slow traffic, shorten crossing distance, and enhance visibility; pedestrian countdown signals and other pedestrian priority signals (head-start, pedestrian scramble).
• Improved street ecology: On-site storm water management to reduce combined sewer overflows; resource-efficient elements and materials; streets as green corridors and habitat connectors.
• Universal design and accessibility: Generous, unobstructed sidewalks, curb ramps for all users, accessible pedestrian signals.
• Integrating pedestrians with transit: Transit rider amenities at key stops; safe, convenient pedestrian routes to transit; mutual features that benefit pedestrian safety and comfort and transit opera¬tions, such as bus bulb-outs and boarding islands.
• Creative use of parking lanes: Permanent curb extensions with seating and landscaping; landscape planters in the parking lane; flexible use of the parking lane for restaurant seating or other uses.
• Traffic calming to reduce speeding and enhance pedestrian safety: Raised crossings and speed tables; landscaped traffic circles.
• Pedestrian-priority designs: Shared public ways; temporary or permanent street closures to vehicles; sidewalk and median pocket parks.
• Extensive greening: Healthy, well-maintained urban forest; expanded sidewalk plantings; effi¬cient utility location to provide more potential planting locations.

The unveiling of the BSP comes as the City puts the finishing touches to the Valencia Streetscape Improvement Project, located between 15th and 19th streets. The Project is a working example of public realm improvements under the BSP, using best practices in design, landscaping, lighting and pedestrian safety to increase pedestrian and bike access, safety and sidewalk space.

The Valencia Project included the replacement and addition of 76,000 square feet of sidewalk and the installation of pedestrian bulbouts to provide traffic calming, facilitate street crossing and add space for gathering. Additional improvements included the planting of 106 Brisbane Box and London Plane trees along the sidewalks, new trash receptacles, 69 bike racks, 32 wheel chair accessible curb ramps, 26 roadway scale lights and 46 pedestrian scale lights. Four Victorian-themed street posts, uniquely designed for Valencia Street and through the San Francisco Arts Commission, were also installed at particular locations. Public art called Valencia Street Post was installed by artist Michael Arcega.

“The Department of Public Works is providing citywide leadership in designing and building beautiful, highly functional and sustainable streetscapes that create a more inviting atmosphere for all users of our streets,” said Ed Reiskin, Director of the Department of Public Works. “We take pride in presenting the Valencia Great Streets Project as an example of modern street design guided by the Better Streets Plan with an emphasis on alternative transportation and community involvement. These initiatives will greatly guide the department as we continue to transform and reinvigorate streets citywide.”

The Department of Public Works led the way with the project’s design and construction, and secured over $6 million in federal and state grants with local matching funds, including $4.1 million through the Transportation for Livable Communities Program. An extensive community planning process was conducted by DPW and MTA with the community and stakeholders; resulting in today’s completed project.

The project is a testament to the efficient collaboration of the City agencies involved. It was completed in close coordination between the Department of Public Works (DPW), San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC), San Francisco Bike Coalition (SFBC), and contractor Ghilotti Bros., Inc. Residents and merchants were instrumental in facilitating the needs of the neighborhood and extended their support from inception through construction.

Of the nine total Great Streets Projects, five have been completed at Valencia, Van Ness, Divisadero, San Bruno Avenue and Lower Polk Street, one is in construction at Leland Avenue, and three are currently in design planning at Balboa Street, Cesar Chavez and 19th Avenue
For more information on the Better Streets Plan please visit: www.sfbetterstreets.org