We Need More for the Embarcadero
With Market Street going car-free this week, it’s a reminder that we do not and should not have to wait years to bring bold change to our city’s most iconic, well-biked boulevards. We’re ready to support protected bike lanes to the Embarcadero, but we need your help to push for more than just three blocks of change.
It’s been over a year since City planners unveiled designs for a fully protected bike lane on the Embarcadero at an open house attended by over 200 people. Since then, we’ve approved and built protected bike lanes at a rate like never before, and it’s finally time to bring that momentum to our waterfront.
In February, there will be two important meetings where the Embarcadero is up for discussion before policymakers: the SF Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board on Feb. 4 and at the SF Port Commission on Feb. 11. These meetings will include a presentation on what’s happened since the open house and a proposal for two new quick-build projects on the Embarcadero for this year.
The two quick-builds look to bring stretches of protected bike lanes to a section in front of Pier 35 (between Kearny Street and Bay Street) and in SoMa (between Mission Street and Folsom Street). Your San Francisco Bicycle Coalition strongly supports both these proposals, but we know that these short segments will not bring the needed safety improvements to turn the Embarcadero into the high-quality, world-class biking experience that our waterfront deserves.
If you’re with us and want to see more than just a couple blocks of improvements, make sure to write to the SFMTA Board and the Port Commission so that our city’s decisionmakers know that we’ve waited too long to see progress. Use this template and write a letter today so that we can dream big about what tomorrow’s waterfront will look like.