Masonic Ave Transformation Breaks Ground in June

We’re excited that Masonic Avenue’s long-overdue makeover will soon break ground and held an open house meeting yesterday to help get the word out.

With the Masonic Avenue Streetscape Project, we will make the street much safer and overhaul centuries-old sewer and water infrastructure. Construction will start in June and last until late 2017.

Masonic is a central north-south route for San Francisco. It’s the only north-south street in the area that connects all the way between Fell Street and Geary Boulevard, which is the section included in the project. It’s also one of the flattest streets in the area.

With this revamp, we’re going to make Masonic safer and better for everyone — no matter how you get around.

Once completed, the new Masonic Avenue will include a plaza at Masonic and Geary Boulevard, raised bike lanes and other safety improvements.

Today, Masonic prioritizes only car traffic, and it has the dubious distinction of being a high-injury corridor for people walking, biking and driving. From 2009 to 2014, there were 113 traffic collisions on Masonic Avenue between Fell and Geary. That includes 14 pedestrian collisions and 24 bicycle collisions, two of which were fatal.

Even before the city adopted a Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2024, residents in the neighborhood knew there was a safety problem here. More than 500 neighbors signed a petition, and the Board of Supervisors passed a resolution, demanding a safer Masonic.

Through community outreach and planning workshops in 2010, community members voted to select a design option which includes:

• Raised bike lanes
• A tree-planted median with 185 new trees (49 will be replaced)
• Wider sidewalks between O’Farrell Street and Geary, and between Hayes and Grove streets
• A new public plaza with public art and planters at Geary and Masonic
• Sidewalk bulb-outs to increase pedestrian visibility and slow down turning vehicles
• Bus stop bulb-outs to reduce the need for Muni buses to merge in and out of traffic, along with better placed bus stops that minimize delay
• Four traffic lanes and a planted median to calm traffic

The main trade-off for these safety improvements is the removal of approximately 167 parking spaces. To offset the parking removal, we will add 20 new parking spaces along Turk Street, from Baker to Central, and we have created the new Residential Permit Parking Area Q to prioritize parking for residents.

The 18-month construction timeline includes the Public Utilities Commission’s necessary sewer and water work, which requires more intensive construction and may take at least three weeks per block.

To reduce delays on the 43 Masonic, an extra bus will serve the route during weekday construction.

You can learn more about the project and sign up for updates at sfmta.com/masonic.