I believe that Market Street has the potential to be a beautiful, multi-functional, model street and should be both a safe place to ride a bike and a great place to stop and enjoy food and social events as well. However, I think that the current street design should be rethought in order to promote a more vibrant and healthy atmosphere for all citizens.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition (SFBC) notes on its web site that Market Street is perhaps the most important street for bicyclists in San Francisco, potentially carrying more daily bicycle traffic than any other street in a major city center in the United States. The SFBC also states that Market Street provides a critical link for bicyclists heading to and from downtown as well as those connecting to regional transit services such as BART, Caltrain, and ferries. Not surprisingly, MTA statistics indicate that bicycle ridership on Market Street increased by 30% between 2007 and 2008.

Although generally wide at 120’ for most of its length, parts of the street are narrow and very congested, and are potentially dangerous for bicyclists and pedestrians. I would like to see plans to make Market Street more bike and pedestrian friendly while maintaining smooth traffic flow for Muni and other forms of transportation.

In 2008, Gov. Schwarzenegger signed SB 1419 which authorized that double fines be assessed for traffic incidents occurring along 19th Avenue. The combination of double fines and other improvements resulted in a substantial drop in traffic accidents along 19th Avenue with not a single pedestrian death reported on 19th Avenue in 2009.

When SB 1419 was enacted, the Senate Transportation Committee insisted that we also include a double-fine zone on Van Ness Avenue, another main north/south traffic corridor through the city as an extension of sorts of highway 101. However, for whatever reason, this portion of the law has thus far gone unenforced. I believe that enforcing the (existing) double fine zone for Van Ness Avenue and adding one for Market Street would also help reduce the number of pedestrian injuries and deaths.