Left turns whittled down on SF’s Van Ness Avenue

Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, October 3, 2016. Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, October 3, 2016. Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Buy photo Photo: Scott Strazzante, The Chronicle Image 1 of / 1 Caption Close Left turns whittled down on SF’s Van Ness Avenue 1 / 1 Back to Gallery

Commuters who use Van Ness Avenue in San Francisco were greeted Monday morning by the near-elimination of left turns from the boulevard onto other streets. The changes caused some confusion and congestion but not chaos.

“During the first few days of a project like this, it’s going to take a few days for people to get used to it,” said Paul Rose, a spokesman for the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency. “But traffic moved through the corridor and there was not a lot of gridlock.”

Drivers will have even more to get used to on Van Ness starting this week. Perhaps as early as Tuesday night, construction crews will begin narrowing the street from three lanes in each direction to two.

Workers will gradually close the lanes closest to the median, starting at Broadway in the southbound direction and McAllister Street in the northbound direction, Rose said.

The transformation of Van Ness started over the weekend as Public Works and Municipal Transportation Agency workers closed several left-turn lanes. It’s part of a three-year project to replace aging sewer and water lines, redesign and repave the busy street, and install dedicated transit lanes and station-like stops for what will be the city’s first bus rapid-transit line.

Left turns, which had already been limited to a few intersections on Van Ness, are now restricted to just three locations: southbound at Broadway and northbound at Hayes and Lombard streets. The Hayes Street turn, however, is temporary, and scheduled to end in April.

The turn-lane removals — and the reduction to two lanes of traffic in each direction — are permanent. The changes are intended to promote smooth operation of the new bus rapid transit, which is scheduled to begin in 2019, and increase pedestrian safety on Van Ness.

The street is among the top 12 percent for deaths and serious injuries in the city, and left turns are considered one of the leading causes of collisions between drivers and pedestrians, city officials say.

Similar construction on Polk Street, a block to the east, will take place simultaneously. Work crews will soon begin reconstructing Polk Street between McAllister and Beach streets, adding protected bike lanes, wider sidewalks and more visible pedestrian crossings.

Both Van Ness and Polk will remain open in both directions, barring a few late-night and weekend closures, but narrower lanes are planned on Polk Street. Those changes, and the congestion drivers will create trying to find their way around, are sure to annoy neighbors and inconvenience anyone visiting the neighborhood.

Workers on both streets will start by replacing sewer and water pipes, some of them dating to the 1800s before working on the street redesigns, installing new street lights and trees, and creating the transit-only lanes down the center of Van Ness.

Suggestions on how to navigate the areas affected by the turn eliminations, and more information on the Van Ness Avenue Improvement Project, are available at the MTA website.

Michael Cabanatuan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter:@ctuan