San Francisco closing some streets to cars, allowing more space for social distancing
SAN FRANCISCO - San Francisco is taking a page from Oakland's playbook and closing some streets to create social distance.
Portions of a dozen city streets will be closed to traffic- beginning this week- chunks totaling 13 miles.
The goal of the Slow Streets program is to give people more space to recreate and travel to essential business, by bike or walking.
"Like so many aspects of our lives we're adapting our transportation system," said Brian Wiedenmeier, Executive Director of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, which had input into the program.
San Francisco is closing these highlighted areas to cars to create more space for social distancing. (SFMTA)
The SFMTA chose sections that run parallel to streets where transit has been cut, and where traffic isn't overly heavy.
Traffic signs and cones will designate the zones for pedestrians and cyclists, with no through traffic, only residents and emergency vehicles allowed to drive in.
Wiedenmeier calls it a good start, but finds the closures weighted too heavily towards the west side of San Francisco.
"People on the west side aren't really hurting for open space and places to walk and bike safely," he said, "and we hope the mayor and SFMTA take a close look at denser parts of the eastern part of the city like South of Market and the Tenderloin."
On Twitter, the SFMTA outlines next steps: test, observe, collect input, refine and expand.
Mayor Breed also took to Twitter, lauding the program and noting "the pandemic is affecting the way all of us live our lives."
She credited Oakland with inspiring the idea.
Earlier this month Oakland rolled out its initiative by the same name, which closed 74 miles, ten percent of its streets, for vehicle-free movement and recreation.
"These are emergency times and everyone is taking extraordinary measures," said San Francisco Supervisor Aaron Peskin, who represents District 3.
Peskin supports the closure concept, but says elected leaders were not consulted.
"I never was contacted by the SFMTA about this at all," he said, "and the fact that we didn't know about this is not really good news."
Peskin questions how the streets were selected, because some areas with the most density were not included.
"There are streets on the northeast side of the city, which includes Downtown, Union Square, Chinatown and North Beach that could easily be closed," he said.
The Slow Streets program is expected to expand over time.
And a safety note for those enjoying closed streets on foot or bicycle: what few cars that remain still have legal right of way, so there's every reason to stay cautious.
San Francisco to begin closing some streets to allow more space for social distancing.