Park officials approve bike lane plan in Golden Gate Park
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency's plan would remove several dozen parking spaces on John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park to accommodate bicycle lanes.
San Francisco will install a mile and a half of bicycle lanes in Golden Gate Park as part of the SF Bike Coalition’s Bay to Beach bicycle route, removing dozens of parking spaces in the process.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency’s John F. Kennedy Drive Bikeway Improvement Project will add 1.5 miles of dedicated bike lanes to the park, a change intended to introduce families and less-confident riders to cycling in Golden Gate Park according to Seleta Reynolds of the MTA. The project received the green light to be implemented on the first of the year, at a full commission meeting attended by a number of supporters and critics earlier today.
“The large picture is to accommodate a wave of enthusiasm to a greener way of getting around, and a healthier way of getting around,” said Recreation and Park Commission President Mark Buell at a commission meeting Oct. 20. “I’ve been converted to bikes. … I think we’ll find that common sense prevails.”
According to Antonio Piccagli of the SFMTA, the project will remove almost 60 parking spots by creating a buffer zone between traffic, parked cars and bicycles.
The MTA had earlier planned on removing 153 spaces, but after working with the De Young Museum, the California Academy of Sciences and the Golden Gate Park Concourse Authority, the agency was able to come up with a configuration that requires removing fewer spaces. Parking spaces will be removed where the road narrows to the point that parking spots can not be maintained, particularly near Transverse Drive.
The commission approved the plan by unanimous vote, and the lanes are scheduled to be open in January.
Commission President Mark Buell said the Mayor’s Office has received a number of letters expressing concern about the Bikeway Improvement Project from the disability community.
Susan Mizner, director of the Mayor’s Office on Disability, feels a dedicated bike lane may improve conditions for the disability community. “With a sufficient number of dedicated bike lanes throughout the city, we will get enough people biking that it will reduce the pressure on our parking spaces, and our public transit,” said Mizner. “I want to be very clear that this is not a conflict between the disability community and the biking community.”
Other residents and park users did not feel so confident the plan would benefit the entire community.
Daniel Tomasevich, a Sunset District resident, expressed his concern with the project. “People with disabilities, if they find parking, will need to park 12 feet from the curb in the street. How can they safely reach the green areas, sidewalks, while walking over a bicycle lane?” said Tomasevich.
In addition to concerns regarding parking, Tomasevich feels the MTA did not properly engage the entire community
“The MTA designed the plan with only one group in mind,” said Tomasevich. “Pedestrians, runners and people with disabilities were completely left in the dark.”
Some community members welcome the bikeway.
Ann O’Hara, an Ocean Beach-area resident who rides John F. Kennedy Drive every day by bicycle during her commute to work on Potrero Hill, said she believes the city will benefit from a bikeway on one of the major corridors connecting the beach to the bay.
“I know from speaking with friends that their main concern was safety. … For the folks we’re trying to encourage to ride to improve their health, to enjoy the park and the city … I think it’s a very good idea and it can only help the city as a whole.”
Some comments at the commission meeting criticized the rise in the number of cyclists and the dangers cyclists can pose to pedestrians, but O’Hara exercises a “common sense” approach.
“It is evident there are more people out there,” said O’Hara. “Guess what, I use common sense and slow down, and it works. I’ve never wiped out and I’ve never run into anybody.”
I’ve really enjoyed these new bike lanes. I am not an expert rider or anything, but i just enjoy leisureing around, in which they are great for. The only concern is when I ran into one of those parking gate barriers and it wouldn’t go up because it didn’t sense the weight of my bike. All in all, it has been very enjoyable!
I commute by bike from Ocean Beach to downtown and I really hate this new setup. There were really no issues riding in GGP to begin with- I don’t know why the Bicycle Coalition had to focus there when the City streets are what is dangerous. I agree that its now unsafe for cars, and you cant see when driving and making a turn – there are bound to be more accidents. As a cyclist, I don’t like it any better than it was – its actually much less aesthetically pleasing because all you see are the cars now, and all the striping on the street, especially near the east end of the park is really ugly and gives a real highway kind of look – it doesn’t feel like a park anymore. I feel like there will be a lot of cars getting sideswiped and pedestrians getting close calls or getting hit. I’m so disappointed with the Bicycle Coalition that I’m not renewing my membership. Really poor job and I’m stuck looking at it each morning during my bike commute.
If you go to GGP with children and have to park, please make sure you leave all your car doors open the entire time you are getting your children from your car to sidewalk. Thanks to SFMTA parking in Golden Gate Park has become dangerous especially if you have children or are disabled. As it is now such a long distance from the car to the curb make sure you take all your gear out of the car first. If you take your kids out first they risk getting run over by a bike should they venture towards you while you are still getting things out of your car. You may wish to carry a few small pylons with you as well for to make drivers aware of the situation…children aboard. Signal flares would work as well.
These new roadway markings have got to be the most idiotic thing I’ve ever seen. Who benefits? Navigating the park has become more dangerous for cars, bikes and pedestrians. And numerous parking spaces have been sacrificed, making the surrounding neighborhoods have to pay the price when spaces are scarce. The auto lanes and parking spaces are so narrow that anyone exiting a parked car risks being hit by a moving vehicle…from both sides! The lanes of cars parked in the middle of the street make visibility poor for everyone. Any cyclist or pedestrian trying to cross the road is obscured by the rows of parked cars, and they in turn can’t see the moving traffic. This new scheme will never stop being utterly confusing and dangerous until it is done away with, which will probably happen after the hundredth accident. A few years ago new lines were added to JFK drive that were unnecessary and incomprehensible, and now it is a hundred times worse!
This doesn’t even help serious cyclists
I ride as fast as cars drive in GGP (often 20mph+) and there is no way I’ll use a lane where passengers are exiting and there’s no room to pass slower cyclists. But I know the cars will honk if I don’t use the “bike lane.” It’s unsafe for everyone!! Plus, where are runners supposed to go when the sprinklers are on? No more shoulder room?
And of course, I am sure that the lanes will be well marked with signs so that taxi’s and other vehicles dropping those of us who are disabled off will not be spit on by the bikers. In my experince spitting seems to be thier favorite method of expressing their anger at cars, etc. And I do agree with the person who said it seems the rights of the disabled are the first to be set aside–esp. by the bike advocates.