San Francisco is adding a bike lane in the center of a street and cyclists are concerned

San Francisco is adding a protected bike lane to the key transportation and commercial corridor along Valencia Street. Under normal circumstances, it would be a huge win. But not this time. This time the protected bike lane runs down the center of the street, and cyclists are understandably concerned.

On April 4, 2023, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) Board of Directors approved the mid-Valencia pilot proposal, which is a 12-month pilot on Valencia Street between 15th to 23rd streets.

It’s not like there are no center-running bike lanes anywhere. There are a few. It’s just that people think the idea runs contrary to, let’s say, common sense. Years ago, Copenhagenize guru Mikael Colville-Andersen said this about center bike lanes:

“Who, in their right mind, would ACTUALLY choose to put cyclists in the middle of a street with speeding cars on either side? Certainly not anyone with an understanding of the bicycle’s role in urban life as transport or a sincere desire to encourage cycling and keep people safe.”

To add to the faux safety of the project, four-inch plastic curbs, and widely spaced plastic poles are the only protection for those brave enough to bike down the middle of a busy street during rush hour. Safety measures that will be in place seem to be designed to keep vehicles from being damaged should drivers steer into the bike lanes, you know, by accident. People? Meh. Not so much.

The Valencia Bikeway Improvements Project was restarted in March 2022 after being “paused” since March 2020. The Project dates back to February 2018. Curbside-protected bike lanes were installed on Valencia between Market Street and 15th Street in late 2018 after Mayor London Breed directed the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) to install them within four months.

Stop calling everything “protected.” Below, a picture from the SFMTA meeting of the plastic “protection” for this bike lane in the middle of the street. What exactly does that protect against, when any car or truck on the market can drive right over it with barely a bump? pic.twitter.com/w1Uy4XtiB4

— Streetsblog SF (@StreetsblogSF) April 5, 2023

Luke Bornheimer is a sustainable transportation advocate and the organizer behind Better Valencia Plan. He says, the center cycle track was originally proposed as a “potential design alternative” in July 2018 and received overwhelmingly negative feedback (curbside protected bike lanes were overwhelmingly supported and SFMTA created a design for curbside protected bike lanes between Market to 15th Streets (in 2018) as well as 19th and Cesar Chavez Streets (in 2020, with fully protected intersections).

SFMTA evaluated those curbside protected bike lanes in summer 2019 and late 2019, explained Bornheimer, and found dramatic improvements in safety and bike ridership and dramatic decreases in double parking.

But, like a never-ending game of Whac-A-Mole, the center-lane idea kept coming back until it ended up being the only option presented for approval.

“The center cycle track idea was reintroduced in 2022 and, despite overwhelmingly negative feedback (13% support for the design), SFMTA moved forward with the design regardless,” Bornheimer says. “I have also heard that Director Tumlin rode a center cycle track or two in other cities, thought they were a good idea, and has been promoting the center cycle track design from within SFMTA and with City officials.”

Valencia is a busy street and a critical route for people around San Francisco, especially for those on bicycles and pedestrians. And, it is very unsafe with the area seeing countless accidents and two fatalities in recent years.

Collisions in the project area. Valencia between 15th and 23rd is on The City’s high injury network, said Kimberly Leung, project manager for the pilot project. #SFMTA pic.twitter.com/BQ3YsJrkxg

— Jerold Chinn 陳景深 (@Jerold_Chinn) April 4, 2023

Bornheimer describes Valencia as a critical route for people on bikes, both for getting around San Francisco — transporting children, going to work, visiting friends — and for shopping at local businesses, including on Valencia.

“A great deal — if not the majority — of commercial activity on and around Valencia is done by people who walk, bike or take public transit to shop at businesses there,” he says. “Valencia has numerous adjacent arterial streets for cut-through car traffic, but the City (SFMTA) has continued to prioritize through traffic, parking, and food-delivery and ride-hailing companies over the safety of people and climate action.”

Bornheimer says, most advocates — including the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and Kid Safe SF — seemed to be supported the center cycle track because something is better than nothing. Although in this case, even that is questionable.

To people who aren’t fans of our stance on Valencia, here’s what we say: Putting infrastructure in the ground immediately is going to save lives on Valencia Street. 🧵👀

— SF Bicycle Coalition (@sfbike) March 24, 2023

He added that the Bicycle Coalition attempted to defend their position in multiple Twitter threads[1][2] and Kid Safe SF tried to justify their position in a Twitter thread and related blogpost launched a “Valencia Promenade” campaign that he says, “sneakly supported the center cycle track design under the guise of a hypothetical future with pedestrianization.”

“It is an advocacy failure on their part as well as a failure by SFMTA and Director Tumlin to provide a better alternative (notably curbside protected bike lanes),” he says.

Bornheimer is continuing to organize support for Better Valencia and advocate for SFMTA to install curbside-protected bike lanes.

“After SFMTA installs its center cycle track design and drivers start parking, driving, or turning through the center cycle track (including at intersections where left turns will be prohibited), I will be calling for SFMTA to immediately remove the center cycle track and install curbside protected bike lanes,” he says.

“My biggest concern — besides someone being killed or seriously injured as a result of the center cycle track design — is that SFMTA, the City, and advocates will waste countless more hours, taxpayer dollars, and energy trying to put bandaids on a fundamentally flawed design.”