Geary Boulevard Improvement Project unanimously approved

On Tuesday, August 15, 2023, the SFMTA Board of Directors unanimously approved the Geary Boulevard Improvement Project, including the full Quick-Build component of the project. Watch the August 15 Board hearing.

We’d like to thank everyone who has provided valuable feedback throughout the outreach process. We have heard from hundreds of community members over the last two and a half years via emails, online petitions, phone calls, community events and over 50 comments that were made during the hearing on Tuesday. Your input has been crucial to making the final project design one that will better serve the community.

Some common themes that were shared with the SFMTA Board were:

• Businesses are still recovering from the effects of Covid-19 and need more time to recover. Many businesses have closed on Geary and removing parking will be an additional hardship to merchants that are already struggling to survive.
• Improving transit is necessary to attract more riders, provide more service at a time when the SFMTA is under serious financial constraints, and to address future transportation needs that will come with anticipated growth in the Richmond. Existing riders including students, families and seniors want to see their ride improved.
• Given Geary’s status as a high-injury corridor, safety improvements cannot wait.
• Transit/safety improvements and sidewalk widening will make Geary Boulevard a more walkable and inviting place for people to visit, which could help local businesses.
• Environmental benefits of the project and the urgency of getting more people out of cars given the climate emergency.
• Outreach fatigue that the project has been under discussion for 20 years, that the current design already incorporates feedback from a diversity of stakeholders, and it should not be delayed any longer.
• Comments from residents who are concerned about the impacts of having a bus stop relocated in front of their home.