Key Takeaway: To improve accessibility and safety for people with disabilities and older adults, the SFMTA needs to continue implementing Quick-Build projects and various pedestrian and bicycle safety upgrades throughout the city.
The SFMTA’s Accessible Services Section works with the Livable Streets Section and other agency teams to ensure that Streetscape projects maintain or improve accessibility and safety for people with disabilities and older adults. This is important because people with disabilities and older adults are also frequently pedestrians. [1]
Quick-Build projects are one of the most effective tools the SFMTA has to address road safety issues. Quick-build projects are reversible, adjustable, traffic safety improvements that can be installed within months, not years. In addition to being quick to implement, they also allow for quick changes, which enable the agency to be flexible and responsive to the needs of pedestrians with disabilities.
The city has committed significantly to the quick-build approach. The SFMTA's Vision Zero Quick Build Program has increased the number of quick-build projects by 200% since 2019. This includes applying the SFMTA Quick-Build toolkit to parts of the Vision Zero High Injury Network at a rate of about 20 projects per year. As of October 2023, 32 Quick-Build projects have been completed, with fifteen more in design or under construction.
The SFMTA also works consistently to make pedestrian crossings safer throughout the city by installing important safety upgrades such as:
- Continental crosswalks
- Raised Crosswalks
- Longer crossing times and improved pedestrian signals
- Advanced Limit Lines
- Pedestrian Bulb-outs
- "Daylighting" intersections (preventing drivers from parking at the edge of an intersection to increase drivers' visibility of pedestrians)
- Flashing crossing beacons
- Pedestrian refuges or "islands"
You can read more about the all the pedestrian improvements in the SFMTA toolkit on this webpage.
Case Study: Quick Builds Improving Accessibility and Transit Reliability on Geary Boulevard
Quick Builds are not only helpful to people walking, rolling and driving. They can also improve the quality of Muni service. The SFMTA has planned and implemented significant transit and safety improvements along the Geary Boulevard corridor between Market Street and 34th Avenue. The improvements increase accessibility, safety and transit service for many people, including the corridor’s current 39,000 daily Muni riders (56,000 pre-pandemic). The first phase of improvements, called the Geary Rapid Project, was completed in 2021 and the second phase, called the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project, implemented Quick Build improvements in Fall 2023 with capital improvements planned in a few years after SFPUC water and sewer main work is completed. Accessibility-related improvements that have been implemented as of fall of 2023 include:
- Over 50 new ADA-compliant curb ramps
- Nine expanded median refuges to provide a safe place to wait in the middle of the street
- 11 new or extended bus bulbs, which are sidewalk extensions at bus stops that make it easier for buses to pull up right next to the curb and ease boarding and lift/ramp deployment.
- 34 new pedestrian bulbs, which help shorten crossing distances, slow turning vehicles and make pedestrians more visible to cars.
- Retimed signals (to provide more time for people walking to cross safely), accessible pedestrian signals (the audible yellow boxes), pedestrian countdown signals, advanced limit limes (stop bars to hold cars further from crosswalks), and “daylighting” (to allow better visibility of crosswalks).
- Additional planned improvements include: 23 additional expanded median refuges, 23 additional pedestrian bulbs, 9 additional bus bulbs, as well as additional accessible pedestrian signals and ADA-compliant curb ramps.
[1] Sklar DP, Demarest GB, McFeeley P. Increased pedestrian mortality among the elderly. Am J Emerg Med. 1989 Jul;7(4):387-90. doi: 10.1016/0735-6757(89)90044-2. PMID: 2735985.