Howard Street Quick-Build Project
Project Background
The Howard Street Quick-Build project is an effort to improve safety and comfort for all people traveling along Howard Street between 3rd Street and The Embarcadero. The quick-build project will include cost-effective improvements for bicycle and pedestrian safety and loading while also serving as a way to inform the design of the Transbay Howard Streetscape Project. The project will include a parking-protected bikeway, improved loading, and pedestrian safety improvements.
The project is part of the SFMTA’s Vision Zero Quick-Build effort, which stems from Mayor London Breed’s executive directive for faster traffic safety improvements on the City’s High Injury Network. It also builds on an additional executive directive to deliver higher quality bikeway facilities, such as protected bikeways, to prevent collisions and increase safety.
Howard Street between 3rd and Fremont streets is a four-lane one-way street in the westbound direction that operates as a couplet with eastbound Folsom Street. Between Fremont Street and The Embarcadero, Howard is a two-way street with two lanes in each direction. Howard Street between 3rd Street and The Embarcadero includes a variety of commercial retail, restaurants, bars and night clubs, light industrial space, and hotels. In addition to the vibrant businesses, this section also contains a high number of high-rise residential and office buildings.
Howard Street is a vital transportation corridor that provides access to destinations like Moscone Center and The Embarcadero, access to regional transportation connections, and serves as a well-traveled east-west bike route for the neighborhood.
The current configuration and sense of safety along Howard Street indicate a need for upgraded bicycle, pedestrian, and loading facilities along the project corridor. Currently, the existing bike lane requires bicyclists to ride between vehicle traffic and parked vehicles and is frequently blocked by delivery trucks and vehicles picking up and dropping off passengers.
The proposed project will extend the existing parking-protected bikeway on Howard Street between 11th Street and 3rd Street by an additional ¾ mile to The Embarcadero, ensuring a consistent, predictable, and more comfortable transportation experience for all who use the street. Daylighting at alleys and intersections will provide more visibility between pedestrians and motorists and widened crosswalks will provide more space for pedestrians at intersections. Additional yellow loading zones will allow commercial vehicles to load at more locations and will be located with input from merchants and shop owners.
Project Details
Project Goals
The main goals for the Howard Street Quick-Build Project include the following:
- Improve safety for all users of Howard Street faster
- Improve loading for business and residences
- Make biking and walking more comfortable
- Inform the design of the long-term streetscape project
Vision Zero
This project is in support of the city’s commitment to Vision Zero, and its main goal is to improve traffic safety conditions and comfort for all who travel along Howard Street. In the past five years (2014 – 2018), there have been 51 crashes involving a vehicle and a bicyclist or pedestrian on Howard Street between 3rd Street and The Embarcadero, of which 4 resulted in severe injuries. On June 27, 2019, a pedestrian was struck and killed by a vehicle at Howard and 1st streets.
The proposed project will address safety concerns by upgrading the existing bike lane to a parking-protected bikeway to be more consistent with those found in the western section of Howard. Other safety improvements will provide a greater sense of safety while cycling and walking on Howard Street while supporting the City’s Vision Zero goals.
Approved Improvements
The project will implement the following quick-build improvements to improve traffic safety:
- Upgrade the existing bike lane to a parking-protected bikeway in the westbound direction to provide a more comfortable and separated space for people riding bikes
- Daylighting at intersections and driveways to improve intersection visibility
- Increase the number of yellow zones to improve loading for commercial businesses
- Traffic lane reduction to redistribute roadway space for all road users
These temporary improvements will inform the design for the Transbay Howard Streetscape Project which will further upgrade transportation safety improvements on Howard Street.
Project Outreach
Since Fall 2019, the project team has spoken to the majority of businesses and properties that front Howard Street in the project area as part of the initial outreach efforts. The project team also held a number of meetings with various stakeholders and community organizations in the area to discuss the proposed improvements.
More recently, The SFMTA held an open house/public hearing for the Howard Street Quick-Build Project in December 2019. The public had the opportunity to learn more about the project, see the proposed design, and provide input. Results and comments from the open house/public hearing can be found in the "Related Reports & Documentations" section of this project webpage.
As the project progresses towards design implementation, the project team will continue to provide updates and communicate potential roadway disruptions due to implementation activities. We encourage community members to sign up for project updates to stay in the loop.
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Implementation in progress -
New transit boarding island and protected bikeway -
New protected bikeway
