SF making changes on Howard Street where cyclist was killed

A woman riding a bike Friday morning on Howard Street was killed after a collision involving a white truck in San Francisco, authorities and witnesses said. A woman riding a bike Friday morning on Howard Street was killed after a collision involving a white truck in San Francisco, authorities and witnesses said. Photo: Sarah Ravani, The Chronicle Photo: Sarah Ravani, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 30 Caption Close SF making changes on Howard Street where cyclist was killed 1 / 30 Back to Gallery

The city of San Francisco announced plans Monday to improve safety on Howard Street, where on Friday a truck driver hit and killed Tess Rothstein, 30, who was riding a FordGo bicycle.

"...Our rapid response crews analyzed the site and we are implementing their recommendations immediately," said Paul Rose, a spokesperson for San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency, which manages the city's streets.

Rose said the city will immediately remove parking on the north side of Howard Street between Fourth and Sixths streets to create more space and protection between cars and cyclists. The city is also preparing to implement a temporary protected bike lane on Howard.

"We are dong an immediate rapid design process and will have it on the street in April," Rose wrote in a message to SFGATE.

Rose said the improvements are a response to Mayor London Breed's directive to fast-track traffic safety projects on the city's high-injury corridors.

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The collision occurred on Howard Street at Sixth Street, just across the street from a protected bike lane that runs along Howard from Sixth to Eleventh. The protected lane opened in January, but the stretch of road where Rothstein was killed remained unprotected.

Supervisor Matt Haney wrote on Twitter, "It's heartbreaking. We have to do so much better to protect cyclists and pedestrians. There should already be a protected bike lane on all of Howard."

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition shared in a statement, "This crash at Sixth and Howard was less than a hundred feet away from a protected bike lane that would have saved this woman's life. Where infrastructure stops, people die."

The statement went on: "Howard is a known high-injury corridor, the location of several delayed street safety projects, and one of San Francisco's most traveled bicycle corridors in one of our city's densest neighborhoods."

Bay City News contributed to this story.