To: Mayor Ed Lee, London Breed, Eric Mar, Mark Farrell, John Avalos, David Campos, David Chiu, Malia Cohen, Katy Tang, Scott Weiner, Norman Yee, Metropolitan Transportation Commission, Maria Lombardo, Tilly Chang, MTA Board, Amy Rein Worth, ...
Save Masonic Avenue
The undersigned residents, merchants, commuters, employees, students, and visitors who regularly travel on Masonic Avenue in San Francisco, California disapprove of the raised bicycle track project on Masonic. This project is fundamentally flawed.
We request that elected officials, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, the SF County Transportation Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission:
1. Rescind and withdraw their approval and support of the current plan.
2. Adopt an alternate plan that maintains traffic flow on this major arterial street.
3. Retain curbside parking on Masonic.
4. Install pedestrian safety improvements.
5. Establish a better, alternate bicycle route on nearby streets.
We are concerned about the current plan because:
• It will congest traffic by permanently removing travel lanes during rush hour, leaving only two lanes in each direction.
• Only a single lane will be moving whenever Muni buses make stops.
• Disabled people, seniors, residents, visitors, churchgoers, employees, students and businesses will suffer hardship due to the loss of at least 167 curbside parking spaces.
• The increased motor vehicle congestion and longer searches for parking will increase pollution.
• Safety will be reduced, not increased.
We request that elected officials, the SF Municipal Transportation Agency, the SF County Transportation Authority and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission:
1. Rescind and withdraw their approval and support of the current plan.
2. Adopt an alternate plan that maintains traffic flow on this major arterial street.
3. Retain curbside parking on Masonic.
4. Install pedestrian safety improvements.
5. Establish a better, alternate bicycle route on nearby streets.
We are concerned about the current plan because:
• It will congest traffic by permanently removing travel lanes during rush hour, leaving only two lanes in each direction.
• Only a single lane will be moving whenever Muni buses make stops.
• Disabled people, seniors, residents, visitors, churchgoers, employees, students and businesses will suffer hardship due to the loss of at least 167 curbside parking spaces.
• The increased motor vehicle congestion and longer searches for parking will increase pollution.
• Safety will be reduced, not increased.
Why is this important?
SFMTA is planning to remove all parking along Masonic Avenue from Fell to Geary, reduce the travel lanes during rush hour so there will only be two lanes in each direction at all times, install a concrete median strip in the middle of the street, and install bike lanes at both curb lanes (cycle tracks, above the roadway and below sidewalk level). There will be bus bulbouts, so when buses stop to load and unload passengers, only one travel lane will be moving. In order to cross Masonic and to access the bus stops, pedestrians will have to cross the cycle track. Emergency response time will be slowed down. The project is estimated to cost $18 million; the actual final cost is anyone’s guess. Our tax dollars could be better spent improving public transportation. Many people affected by this project did not receive notice from MTA. Adequate environmental review has not been performed.