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Bike Plan Injunction Lifted in San Francisco

Back in 2006, a Superior Court put the brakes on San Francisco’s new Bike Plan. With the stroke of a judge’s gavel, officials were restrained from adding any new bicycle facilities in the Bay City. For more than four years, the legal wrangling over the environmental review handcuffed concrete plans for more bike-friendly streets.

As of this week, the brakes are off.

On Friday, the injunction was finally — and fully — lifted, making way for the near-immediate striping of 35 bike lanes.

The San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, an organization with more than 11,000 members, applauded the ruling.

“We are celebrating San Francisco’s freedom to once again make streets safer for everyone and look forward to real improvements on streets in a matter of days,” Renée Rivera, Acting Executive Director of the SFBC said in a statement. “This is the first time in San Francisco’s history that this many bike lane projects are approved and ready to be striped. These long-awaited improvements will help growing numbers of people feel more confident, comfortable and safe when they bike to shop, to work and to play.”

That growth has been dramatic. Even with the injunction in place, bicycle ridership has surged by more than 53 percent over the past four years. And the new facilities could drastically increase that number: Surveys have shown that more than one-third of San Franciscans would ride if their routes included bike lanes.

With the lifting of the injunction, the city is now poised to nearly double its miles of bike lanes and position itself as one of the nation’s top cycling towns. According to SFBC: “Today’s ruling coupled with the City’s commitment to safer, friendlier streets will propel San Francisco into becoming one of America’s most bicycle-friendly cities.”