Improving Muni on Market Street

The Better Market Street Project reached a significant milestone last week with the release of its Draft Environmental Impact Report. While it may not sound exciting at first glance, this step is an important part of getting the project built and is required by the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). This report provides both decision-makers and the general public with an objective analysis of the project’s potential impacts on the environment, as well as a chance to make comments on those impacts.

To get to this milestone, the project has developed design priorities for Market Street through an extensive public outreach process which was fine-tuned over several years. The project team has heard from the community that the core needs include: improving transit, enhancing access for all, updating the public realm experience, prioritizing safety, and re-establishing a unique identity for our City’s most iconic street.

The Better Market Street Project is being led by San Francisco Public Works in coordination with SFMTA and the San Francisco Planning Department. The proposed project would deliver transformative transportation, streetscape and safety improvements along 2.2 miles of Market Street between Octavia Boulevard and Steuart Street -- a once-in-a-generation project.

Map showing all surface Muni routes that use Market Street for a portion of their route. Improving the functionality of Market will help enhance transit to many parts of the City.

How to View and Comment

The draft report was published on February 27, 2019, and is available online. The project will be open to public comment from now until 5 p.m. on April 15, 2019. After the comment period ends, the environmental planning division of the Planning Department will contain a summary of all relevant comments on this draft report and their responses to those comments.

Comments can be made in a number of ways:

• Via mail to Chris Thomas
  • SF Planning  Department, 1650 Mission Street, Suite 400, San Francisco, CA 94103
• Via e-mail to christopher.thomas@sfgov.org 
• Or in person at the following public hearing:
  • Thursday, April 4, 1:00 p.m., SF Planning Commission, City Hall Room 400

Comments on the draft report should focus on the environmental effects of the project, such as the project’s potential to impact air quality or noise. If you have general comments or questions on the project itself, that feedback always can be provided directly to bettermarketstreet@sfdpw.org

One final note, the report includes a variant to the proposed project for the section of Market Street between Octavia and just east of Market at Hayes Street. This proposal is known as “The Western Variant” and includes ideas that are a bit different than the rest of the corridor. Those specifically interested in this variant can review it on page 2-78 of Volume 1 in the report.

You can view the report here, to learn more and share official comments.

For more information on the Better Market Street Project please visit the project page.