Why it makes sense for San Francisco
Integrating transportation and land use planning is essential to meet the ever growing needs of a vibrant city like San Francisco. Research has proven that development patterns (and their related parking needs) heavily influence transportation choices, and the city’s current and future needs cannot be accommodated through roadway expansion and separated land uses alone. These traditional ways of planning take up precious city land and create a host of negative public and private costs and impacts on our economy, environment infrastructure and society. Compact, mixed-use infill development with streets designed to prioritize transit, walking and bicycling has proven to meet multiple quality of life objectives and is part of a suite of critical strategies to reduce transportation emissions, waste and noise and improve public health through more active lifestyles while minimizing severe and fatal traffic related injuries.
While this type of development ensures that many destinations can be reached through walking, public transit, car-sharing and bicycling, strategic investments will be needed to ensure that the transportation network can meet this demand. Locating new housing and employment centers along transit corridors is only the first step; creating partnerships that identify and provide the needed tools to make these plans and projects successful is vital. These tools include increasing transit peak-period capacity (including fleets and fleet storage) and reliability; walking and bicycling safety and comfort, and travel demand management tools like parking needs for bicycles and car-sharing and household transit passes. By coordinating land-use and transportation planning early in the design stage, we can create better outcomes that meet our city’s overall quality of life goals.
SFMTA and its partners plan the next generation neighborhoods
The SFMTA and other city planning departments (City Planning, Office of Economic and Workforce Development, Port of San Francisco, former Redevelopment Agency) are coordinating with external stakeholders to locate new housing and employment centers near existing transit as well as improving the existing transportation choices to accommodate the projected future demand. This process has been successful in identifying the needs of the future residents and workers as well as those of the overall city in integrating the new communities into the surrounding development. These early coordination efforts are resulting in lasting partnerships between the city and private stakeholders that will facilitate the implementation of the development plans and programs.
Recent long-range land-use and transportation integration efforts include the following projects in the city:
- Balboa Park Station Area Plan
- California Pacific Medical Center
- Candlestick Point-Hunter’s Point Shipyard: this expansive development in the southeast portion of the city will require extensive new transit infrastructure and service as well as enhanced pedestrian and bicycling facilities. As part of the development agreement, new employers and residents will participate in an innovative financing program of the TDM measures included in the plan.[1]
- Central Corridor (SoMa) Plan
- Eastern Neighborhoods Transportation Implementation Planning Study (EN TRIPS)
- Glen Park Station Area Plan
- Market Octavia Plan
- Mission Bay Plan
- Moscone Convention Center Redevelopment
- Parkmerced: the transportation network infrastructure that serves this development in the southwestern part of the city will realign to better serve the community, including free shuttles to regional transit, transit pass subsidies to residents and limited parking for private automobiles.
- Port of SF Cruise Terminal
- Transbay Transit Center: the development surrounding the new Transbay Transit Center will create a transportation-focused neighborhood with an estimated 2,600 new housing units and 125,000 jobs within easy access to 11 different transportation systems.
- Transit Center District Plan
- Treasure Island: the proposed transportation network on Treasure Island will focus on the enhancing the public realm and prioritize walking and bicycling. The Transportation demand management programs for the new developments will include a pilot congestion management program, the issuance of transit passes for the new households and innovative parking policies on the island.
- Waterfront Transportation Assessment: along the eastern and central waterfront of the city, there are three major new developments in planning: the new event center at Pier 30-32, the restoration of Pier 70 and the development of Seawall Lot 337 – Mission Rock. The SFMTA is leading the effort to review and analyze proposed development and transportation projects over the next 25 years along the waterfront and point to where potential investment may be needed as the city changes and grows.
- West SoMa Plan
SFMTA led Transit Oriented Development
- Hotel Vitale
- Transportation Facilities
- Small surface lots
- Planning