An Update On Haight Street Traffic Lights, Curb Line Changes, Repaving And More

An Update On Haight Street Traffic Lights, Curb Line Changes, Repaving And MoreMike Gaworecki / Hoodline
Mike Gaworecki
Published on February 19, 2015

There's plenty afoot in terms of transportation and road work in the neighborhood in the nearish future. Here's the latest on traffic lights, Muni lanes, and more. 

Transit-Only Lane On Haight

You might have noticed that the red transit-only lane at the eastern end of Haight Street has expanded all the way to Haight and Buchanan, and that left turns are no longer allowed onto Laguna when headed eastbound on Haight as the former left-turn lane is now the transit-only lane.

Muni Forward Program Manager Sean Kennedy says work on these changes, which were legislated as part of the Muni Forward Program, had to be sped up because of assurances that the system would be tested prior to full implementation of the SFMTA’s 71-Haight Noriega Rapid Project. The SFMTA’s plan originally called for a traffic signal at this intersection, but the agency agreed to first test just the transit-only lane and left-turn restriction at the urging of local residents.

“[W]e have promised residents at the intersection that we would implement the red lane and left turn restriction first and do an evaluation to see if a traffic signal would be beneficial given the great savings the protected transit lane would already provide the bus,” Kennedy says. Now that these changes have been made, the SFMTA will be evaluating effectiveness for as long as possible until the DPW comes through and starts its work.

More Changes on the Way

While no precise timeline has yet been set for implementation of the contentious plan to install more traffic lights on Haight Street, construction could begin on other parts of the SFMTA’s plan within the next few months.

According to Kennedy, the SFMTA legislated certain improvements along Haight Street several months ago, including “curb line changes” such as the pedestrian bulb-outs that are part of the agency’s plan for speeding up transit through the entire Haight corridor. These curb line changes will be implemented along with the Department of Public Work’s (DPW) big infrastructure project coming to both Haight and Hayes streets this year, on which work could begin within the next few months.

You’ll notice, however, that we say “could” begin in two months. Here’s Kennedy on the process that will determine the timeline, from an email he sent to Hoodline on February 2nd: “DPW has bundled the Hayes and Haight repaving work together into the same contract and the contractor will select which corridor they are going to repave first… a decision we will not know the outcome on for another 2 months. However, if the contractor decides to repave Haight first, that work could begin in about 2.5 months.”

According to Alex Murillo, public affairs officer with DPW, the project is still out to bid, meaning no contractor has yet been selected. Once the contract is awarded, the contractor will need to submit the necessary paperwork to be allowed to begin work. Murillo told Hoodline via email on February 6th that this means work may not actually begin for “a few months,” as we noted earlier this week. 

Further Concerns About Traffic Lights

Michael Smith, a founder of Walk San Francisco who is currently with Transitime.org, an open-source real-time public transit information portal, says that the transit-only lane is a great example of the type of changes that have been shown to improve Muni travel times.

However, he believes that the controversial traffic lights proposed for the intersections of Haight at Scott and Pierce are not only a bad idea for improving Muni’s performance but that they may even be counterproductive to creating a safe environment for all, an opinion shared by many Lower Haight residents.

“The key concern is that they [the SFMTA] are basing their decision on traffic signals on incomplete and incorrect data,” Smith tells Hoodline. 

Smith broke his concerns down into two categories in an email to Hoodline: pedestrian safety and pedestrian desirability.

"For ped safety the known way to make streets safer is traffic calming and stop signs are part of the toolkit (for streets with only a single lane in each direction). Problem with traffic signals is that vehicles go through much faster, reducing reaction time (harder to avoid collisions) and increases severity (vehicles moving much faster when there is a collision). And of course there is the problem of drivers gunning it when the signal turns yellow. If you look at the pedestrian injuries they are disproportionally at intersections with traffic signals. The SFMTA should be comparing a significant number of intersections that are similar except for whether they have stop signs or four way stops. Instead they only looked at a handful of intersections, the majority of which are not truly comparable.

"With respect to ped desirability, signals make the pedestrian environment less hospitable. Compare Fulton to McAllister between Masonic and Divis. Vehicles move much faster on Fulton making it less inviting. Plus pedestrians have to wait at red lights before crossing, slowing down walking. Given that Haight is a commercial corridor the pedestrian environment is key for business."
Here's what the SFMTA had to say to similar criticisms last month.

This story is far from over and Hoodline will most likely have many more updates for you before it’s all said and done. Questions or concerns? Leave ‘em here in the comments or submit a tip to Hoodline and we’ll try to get you answers.