The centerpiece of a $34.2 million project designed to improve the speed and reliability of the K-Ingleside light rail line along Ocean Avenue, which was set to start construction as soon as this week, has been indefinitely paused.
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency announced Wednesday afternoon that the installation of red transit-only lanes from Lee Avenue to Junipero Serra Boulevard has been paused while an advisory group meets to deliberate on the project's impact.
"District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar's office and District 11 Supervisor Chyanne Chen's office will organize a working group to discuss potential transportation improvements on Ocean Avenue and ensure responsiveness to potential impacts to residents and small businesses along the corridor," SFMTA spokesperson Michael Roccaforte said, adding that the agency will implement other parts of the K Ingleside Rapid project.
Chen told The Light on Wednesday that "all options are on the table" for finding a solution, and that she wants as many people as possible to be heard during the advisory group's meetings.
Melgar said a professional facilitator will be hired to lead three or four meetings, and that the group would be similar to the one that worked on the Ocean Avenue Mobility Action Plan and the West Portal Station Safety and Community Space Improvements. No timeline has been established yet.
"What we're going to do is have a process and hear each other out," Meglar said. "People are very angry at the MTA. I don't know that people necessarily are angry about the dedicated transit lanes."
The decision to delay the transit-only lanes comes about a month after the nonprofit Ocean Avenue Association began an opposition campaign. The association organized a meeting for merchants to meet with city officials and hung posters across the corridor urging the public to sign a petition calling for the SFMTA to abandon the transit-only lanes.
"It's going to take some resources to be assigned to work with people who desperately want the red lanes, people who desperately don't want the red lanes, and reach a compromise," Ocean Avenue Association President Kath Tsakalakis said.
The transit-only lanes have become a polarizing issue.
The association's petition to stop the red lanes has 1,761 supporters. (The Ingleside Light surveyed readers who subscribe to its email newsletter. About 70% opposed the red lanes.)
In response, two petitions have been started in support of the transit-only lanes. One with 33 signatures by a group called Friends of Ingleside, and another with 2,499 signatures by the Transbay Coalition, San Francisco Transit Riders, Walk San Francisco, Westside Collective and SF YIMBY.
The Office of Mayor Daniel Lurie declined to comment on the transit-only lanes. However, when he was campaigning for mayor, The Light queried Lurie about the K-Ingleside and M-Ocean View improvement projects. He said he would work to improve “safety, frequency, and reliability of service.”
“Too often SFMTA does projects to communities instead of doing projects with communities,” Lurie told The Light last year. “By making these lines faster, safer and more convenient, we can encourage more residents to choose public transit.”
A Lane For Investment
The K Ingleside Rapid project is the most significant public investment Ingleside's Ocean Avenue has had in over a decade. The K-Line averaged 12,300 daily boardings in December.
Formally approved almost two years ago, reversing the decision to install transit-only lanes would require the SFMTA Board of Directors to take up the issue, something that Melgar said has never happened before. And, given the agency's dire financial outlook, is unlikely to do.
The working group will have to balance the needs of public transit, street safety and small businesses. The compromise that the working group comes up with will likely be the elimination of transit-only lanes on some blocks.
It's unknown what economic impact the red lanes would have on Ocean Avenue. A city report on the Valencia Street bicycle lanes seem to point to minimal or no negative impacts.
The SFMTA credits transit-only lanes on Mission Street for a 36% reduction in speeding, a 30% reduction in fast acceleration and a 21% reduction in hard breaking from cars.
Ingleside's stretch of Ocean Avenue has been deemed dangerous for years. As the project has been implemented over the last year, two elderly women were killed in crashes on the avenue.
Traffic engineers believe transit-only lanes are the most significant measure for slowing traffic on Ocean Avenue.
"Over the almost three years that the SFMTA has been conducting outreach for this project, we have consistently heard from community members that speeding on Ocean Avenue is a significant safety concern," Roccaforte said.
Several parts of the K Rapid Project have been started or completed. The SFMTA has done a number of boarding island upgrades, stop removals, parking changes and better-timed traffic signals for drivers and pedestrians.
Five left-turn restrictions, which are meant to reduce conflicts between people driving and walking, are being installed this week.
The agency will also add rapid flashing beacons, bulbouts and improved curb ramps with audible signals.
The SFMTA will add two new left-turn signal phases. One will be at Brighton Avenue for drivers turning left into the AvalonBay apartments and the Whole Foods Market parking lot entrance. Another will be on Plymouth Avenue for drivers turning left to go south.
"These new left-turn phases are at locations where we have seen delays to trains due to queues of left-turning vehicles," Roccaforte said. "The left turn phases will be short and will occur at the end of the green phase to clear out any queue of left-turning vehicles."
The K-Line does have transit signal priority at Plymouth Avenue to allow trains and firetrucks hold green lights longer. The SFMTA is exploring options to add this feature at more locations.
Fortunately, the delay for the working group to deliberate won't cost taxpayers.
"All work during the quick build phase is from city crews, so no third-party contractors or bid that would affect the budget," Roccaforte said.
