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Entries tagged: Great Streets Project

The SF Bicycle Coalition recently celebrated the official opening of the “Showplace Triangle” street plaza (at 8th and 16th streets) where San Francisco’s mayor Gavin Newsom, announced that the City’s Pavement to Parks program will be completing 12 more trial street plazas and “parklets” by the end of 2010. This program takes car parking spots and other street spaces and transforms them into various gathering spots for the community.

Since the very first plaza opening in May 2009, the trial street reclamations have proven to be very successful and popular among the public. The new public spaces are built after the idea of PARK(ing) Day, where automobile parking spots are turned into mini public spaces for a day. These temporary spaces include mini-gardens, bike parking, plazas, etc.

The SF Bike Coalition will continue to work closely with the Pavement to Parks program through their own Great Streets Project in order to scout good locations and connect community groups and businesses with the city’s program.

For more information:
Great Streets Project: http://sfgreatstreets.org/
Pavement to Parks Program: http://sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/
PARK(ing) Day: http://www.parkingday.org/
SF Bicycle Coalition: http://www.sfbike.org/

Starting on September 29, San Francisco drivers will start seeing changes in traffic flow on Market Street downtown. Working in coordination with the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition, Mayor Gavin Newsom announced the commencement of the Better Market Street Project, a package of several pedestrian and public transit improvements.

According to Mayor Newsom’s press release, “private motorists traveling eastbound on Market Street will be encouraged to turn right on 10th Street before being diverted south at 8th Street… Public transit, bicycle, emergency vehicles and delivery vehicles will continue to fully access Market Street.”

Over the course of the next year, many more innovative traffic diversion efforts will be created. These will include open-air concerts, numerous public art displays, and miniplazas featuring outdoor seating. Because the Better Market Street Project is trial-based, these new features will be refined as needed. This effort is just one outcome of SFBC’s Great Streets Project, a campaign to return San Francisco streets to their rightful place as the center of civic life. According to Kit Hodge, Director the Great Streets Project, “The Better Market Street Project will be a great civic experiment drawing on the wisdom of everyone who uses the street, or would like to. We look forward to learning what works from the trials, and building on success.”

As part of their efforts, the City will use new media technologies like Twitter, 311, email, and Facebook for public feedback, which will prove essential in determining the project’s future.

Carolyn Diamond, Executive Director of the Market Street Association, explains that Market Street “deserves to be a grand boulevard.”