Upcoming Construction

Construction on the next set of safety improvements for the Upper Market Street Safety Project will begin the week of January 29!

When construction is completed by the end of March (pending weather), the two-block segment of Market Street from Octavia Boulevard to Duboce Ave/Buchanan Street will include:

A curbside bikeway protected from moving vehicles by concrete islands

A large new “Pedestrian Safety Zone” where Guerrero Street meets Market Street

New painted pedestrian refuge islands at the Laguna/Hermann/Market crosswalks

More passenger and vehicle loading zones on Market Street

Smoother pavement and new curb ramps to support accessibility

Parking changes are also coming to nearby side streets to replace metered parking lost on Market Street. New metered spaces on select locations of Hermann, Laguna, Waller, and Duboce will replace unregulated and residential permit/time-limited spaces and will have a 4-hour time limit to ensure a supply of open spaces are available to support commercial businesses on Market Street.

Construction impacts will be minimal at first as curb ramps are installed at a few locations. Re-paving will occur over a subsequent weekend, while the bulk of the construction activities will include forming concrete islands and re-striping traffic lanes. Although SFMTA and Public Works crews will largely avoid the commute peak hours, Market Street will be reduced to one lane in each direction midday for much of late February and early March. Lane closures on Guerrero and Laguna streets will also occur, but should be brief.

Public Open House for Proposed Circulation Changes, Corridor-Wide Landscaping Opportunities

As part of the ongoing community dialogue and phased implementation associated with the project, we invite you to join us for a community open house we are hosting along with Public Works on February 28, 2018, from 5-8pm at Sanchez Elementary School to gather feedback on two additional project elements.

The first is a package of potential signal phasing and circulation changes at the 17th/Castro/Market, 16th/Noe/Market, 15th/Sanchez/Market, and Guerrero/Laguna/Market intersections. With the goals of better protecting people at Market Street’s wide and complex intersections with signal separation, simplifying turn movements, and promoting safer, more predictable behaviors, project staff are looking to finalize a proposal for altered circulation to take to the SFMTA Board later this spring. (Note: A related signal timing change at the Noe/16th/Market intersection was just implemented with similar goals, although this change did not affect traffic capacity or include turn restrictions.)

Guided generally by the Upper Market Community Vision & Recommendations report from 2007, the Public Works landscape team is also inviting additional input on the location and priority of features such as landscaping, lighting, seating, and other potential elements to accompany the street and sidewalk upgrades approved by the SFMTA Board in May 2017. This feedback will help generate a draft design proposal by the fall of 2018 to support construction in late 2019/2020.

More details of the traffic circulation study, including answers to Frequently Asked Questions, are available now at sfmta.com/uppermarket. Check back in March for the open house materials and a summary of public comments.