City officials announced last week that a section of Beach Street near popular tourist destinations like Fisherman’s Wharf and the city’s cable car boarding area received much-needed upgrades to pedestrian and bike safety measures.
District 2 and 3 Supervisors Stephen Sherrill and Danny Sauter last Thursday celebrated the completion of the Beach Street Quick-Build Project near the Powell and Hyde cable car turnaround on Beach and Hyde streets. The project included installing a two-way separated bike lane on the north side of Beach Street, pedestrian safety improvements, and the adjustment of a bus stop and transit shelter.
The two-way separated bike lane stretches along Beach Street between Van Ness and Columbus avenues. Other measures installed as part of the project included upgraded crosswalks, advance limit lines, daylighting, a new stop sign at Beach Street and Columbus Avenue, and a painted safety zone at Beach and Hyde streets, just in front of the well-known Buena Vista Cafe. The painted safety zone, which wraps around the corners of a sidewalk, provides drivers with more visibility when pedestrians cross the street, the SFMTA said.
When transportation planners presented the proposed plans at a San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency Board of Directors meeting in December 2024, they said Beach Street, given its number of attractions, was a gap in the city’s network for safe biking and walking. The entire project runs along Beach Street from The Embarcadero to Van Ness Avenue.
The segment of the project is also in the city’s high injury network, the 12 percent of streets where 68 percent of severe traffic injuries and fatalities take place. SFMTA documents said that from 2019 to 2023 there were 25 reported collisions, with eight collisions involving pedestrians and four collisions involving bicyclists. Two of the collisions involving pedestrians resulted in severe injuries. One of the collisions with a bicyclist resulted in a severe injury.
“Projects like this that are taking place on a high injury network are incredibly critical to keeping people safe and to building the network of bike lanes that will decrease congestion, that will improve on our environmental goals, and that will just make it more fun for everybody,” District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill said.
The project segment also encompasses parts of District 3, represented by Supervisor Danny Sauter.
“I love the name of quick builds because it tells you what you need to know,” Sauter said. “We’re trying to get better infrastructure, safer streets done quickly on a good, fair budget.”
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority fully funded the project through local transportation sales tax and transportation network company tax revenue, also known as the TNC tax. The total cost of the project was $790,000.
Sauter said the project was special because it runs through two different districts.
“It connects some of our tourist neighborhoods, some of our residential neighborhoods, and I think this is just the start,” he added.
Bri Maughan, the executive director of the Fisherman’s Wharf Community Benefits District, spoke about the importance of giving visitors and locals multiple ways to get to the waterfront and visit tourist attractions.
“When you get to Fisherman’s Wharf, you now have a trip that’s safe, accessible, and reliable, and that’s what this project delivered,” Maughan said. “When getting to the waterfront is easier, people choose to stay here longer.”
