Welcome to the inaugural edition of The Messenger, a newsletter to keep you up-to-date on the activities of the San Francisco County Transportation Authority.
Since 1989, the Transportation Authority has administered the city’s half-cent transportation sales tax, allocating over $2 billion to voter-approved projects, large and small.  Our sales tax program helps fund major capital projects such as the Presidio Parkway, Central Subway and Transbay Transit Center, as well as neighborhood-scale improvements like pedestrian crosswalks, faster bus routes and new traffic signals, citywide.
We hope that you will recognize many of these projects and invite you to visit MyStreetSF.com to learn more about what’s coming to your neighborhood. Here’s to the next quarter century at the Transportation Authority. We hope you enjoy The Messenger.

What is the most common reason for late-night travel? How many late-night transit trips are there on an average weekend? How far do people travel? The answers to these questions are part of the draft findings from the Late Night Transportation Working Group.The group’s findings are part of their effort to identify short-, medium-, and long-term strategies to improve late-night and early-morning transportation in San Francisco.

YERBA BUENA ISLAND: The I-80 interchange improvement project on the island is approximately one-third complete. The project will construct new westbound on and off ramps to the eastern span of the Bay Bridge. The work is on pace for completion by mid-2016. A second Yerba Buena Island project will retrofit eight existing bridge structures. That project is currently anticipated to strart in 2017. For more information, visitour YBI web page.

PEÑALOSA VISIT: Mayor Enrique Peñalosa, the former mayor of Bogota and internationally recognized leader in sustainable transportation, brought an inspiring and insightful message to San Francisco Oct. 19-20. “It’s wonderful to see what you are doing here in San Francisco,” Mayor Peñalosa said. “What you are doing to make this city even better than it already is will make a great positive impact all over the world.” Read more about Mayor Peñalosa’s visit.

KEVIN STULL
is a member of SF’s Pedestrian Safety Advisory Committee. Stull, who lives in the Tenderloin, talks about what the McAllister Street pedestrian safety project will mean to the neighborhood.

1. What are conditions like in the Tenderloin for pedestrians?

2. Why is the McAllister Street project important for the neighborhood?

3. The McAllister Street project helps advance the city’s Vision Zero policy. What else is needed for San Francisco to eliminate traffic deaths in 10 years?

The San Francisco County Transportation Authority spearheads strategic planning and allocates funding for transportation-related projects in San Francisco. The Transportation Authority collaborates with transit providers like Muni, BART and Caltrain, other government agencies and the public to enhance the safety, sustainability and economic competitiveness of San Francisco. To find out more,visit the Transportation Authority online. For information on projects in your neighborhood, visit our interactive project mapMyStreetSF.

As Chair of the Transportation Authority, I see first-hand how our transportation investments increase safety, promote healthier neighborhoods and create improved access for all. Over the past two years, I have enjoyed working closely with my colleagues on the Transportation Authority Board, agency staff, and our Citizens Advisory Committees to improve transportation in the city.

In 2013, we adopted the San Francisco Transportation Plan and Prop K Strategic Plan, the blueprints for our transportation investments through 2040. We also created an equity framework to ensure that these investments are responsive to the needs of our diverse neighborhoods.

In early 2014, we established a Vision Zero Committee to raise traffic safety. Later in the year, the agency became the Treasure Island Mobility Management Agency to support planned housing and development on the Island. This fall, we made the single largest Prop K commitment ever of $159 million to help the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency replace its entire fleet of light rail vehicles and expand services to operate a new Muni line to Chinatown.

I am also proud to have overseen the transition in leadership of the Transportation Authority. The smooth changeover led by our Director, Tilly Chang, has ensured that the agency’s important work in planning, funding, and project delivery has not skipped a beat.

Happy holidays and I hope you enjoy reading about these and future Transportation Authority activities in The Messenger.

HISTORIC ALLOCATION OF PROP K 1/2-CENT SALES TAX

The Transportation Authority recently approved the single largest allocation of Prop. K half-cent sales tax dollars in the 25-year history of the program. The funding, totaling almost $159 million, will help the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency replace its entire fleet of light rail vehicles and expand it to operate new service to Chinatown.

PARKLETS, NEW STREETSCAPES ENLIVEN PERSIA TRIANGLE

The Excelsior neighborhood now has two parklets and other streetscape improvements in the Persia Triangle area bounded by Ocean and Persia avenues and Mission Street. The Persia Triangle Plaza, funded in part by the Transportation Authority’s half-cent sales tax for transportation, makes use of temporary sidewalk expansions that will become permanent next spring. It is the most recent in the city’s Pavement to Parks program and is designed to increase pedestrian safety, neighborhood engagement and beautification in the heart of the Excelsior.

The plaza was a collaborative effort with San Francisco’s Planning Department, Public Works, Municipal Transportation Agency, Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Excelsior Action Group, Parks Alliance and Supervisor John Avalos’ office. (Photo courtesy SF Planning Dept.)

VISION ZERO POLICY ADVANCES WITH PROJECTS, FUNDING

San Francisco’s Vision Zero policy is continuing to move ahead on several fronts.

A busy stretch of Sixth Street has a new traffic signal, paid for in part by the city’s half-cent sales tax for transportation. The signal will help improve safety along a corridor with some of the highest rates of pedestrian collisions in the city.

Additionally the San Francisco Police Department announced it received a $210,000 grant for pedestrian and bicycle safety enforcement and education.

And last month Supervisors Norman Yee and Jane Kim attended the Vision Zero for Cities Symposium in New York City, where they shared information about San Francisco’s efforts.

Vision Zero is a policy calling for San Francisco to eliminate traffic-related deaths by 2024. The city plans to achieve that through education, enforcement and street improvements like adding traffic signals.

MCALLISTER PEDESTRIAN SAFETY PROJECT STARTS

The McAllister Street pedestrian safety project, funded in part by the Transportation Authority, is now underway. Expected to be completed by summer 2015, the work will result in numerous improvements to the north side of McAllister between Larkin and Leavenworth streets, including sidewalk widening, new pedestrian lighting, landscaping, and corner bulbouts to reduce crossing distances for pedestrians.

MARKET-HAIGHT REDESIGNED FOR SAFER STREETS, BETTER TRANSIT

The intersection of Market and Haight streets was redesigned recently thanks in part to an allocation of half-cent sales tax dollars from the San Francisco County Transportation Authority. The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency used half-cent sales tax money, along with other funding sources, to widen sidewalks, extend boarding islands, make crosswalks safer and create a transit-only lane along two blocks of Haight. The project, which also includes new curb extensions and curb ramps, is part of Muni Forward, the SFMTA’s effort to create a reliable, safe and comfortable experience both on and off transit.

BUSINESS, CITY HALL MUST WORK TOGETHER FOR TRANSPORTATION SUCCESS

San Francisco voters in November approved Proposition A, sending a strong message they want the city to have resources for safer streets and more efficient transit. But the effort should not stop there. An op-ed in The Examiner co-authored by Transportation Authority Executive Director Tilly Chang and SF Chamber CEO Bob Linscheid called on the business community and local government to work “in tandem on creative solutions” for robust investments in the city’s transportation infrastructure.

LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK

We hope you find this newsletter informative. If you have ideas for future editions, let us know. Questions, comments or suggestions can be sent to Eric Young, Senior Communications Officer, at eric.young@sfcta.org.