San Francisco County Transportation Authority
Moving the City

LATEST NEWS | BACKGROUND | OUTREACH | TECHNICAL REVIEW
CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS | IMPLEMENTATION | FEEDBACK

LATEST NEWS

Fact Sheet Available: Read about updated plans to improve Western SoMa alleyways, including those at Minna and Natoma Streets between 7th and 9th Streets, and Ringold Street between 8th and 9th Street. Download the new Fact Sheet (1.6MB PDF).

Upcoming Community Meeting No. 3: See below for more information on the August 16 community meeting.  It will be held at 10:00am at the Cannon Kip Senior Center at 705 Natoma Street. 

Survey: SFCTA staff will be at Harvest Market, 191 8th Street to survey residents and community members on Monday, August 15th and Wednesday, August 17th from 11:00am-1:00pm and 5:00pm-7:00pm.  Stop by to share your opinion, or take the survey online.

BACKGROUND

The Western SoMa neighborhood, defined generally as the area between 4th and 12th Streets and Howard and Townsend Streets, has been the focus of a community plan process that envisions land use and transportation changes to improve livability in the neighborhood while preserving its historical character. Created through a multi-year community process led by the Western SoMa Task Force, the Western SoMa Community Plan provides policy recommendations and concepts for improving pedestrian, bicycle, and transit conditions. The Community Plan is currently in the adoption process.

To support implementation of the Community Plan, the Transportation Authority has initiated a Western SoMa Neighborhood Transportation Plan (NTP) process. The NTP seeks to move selected improvement ideas from the Community Plan to implementation-ready status by providing cost estimates, conceptual designs, and other relevant project development work.

Using a technical assessment and input from the community, the Study has narrowed its focus to three of Western SoMa's alleys for traffic calming and streetscape improvements, including potential mid-block crossings of the numbered streets.

For more information about the Western SoMa Neighborhood Transportation Plan, please see our factsheet (PDF).

Questions? Read our Frequently Asked Questions (PDF).

SCHEDULE

OUTREACH

Surveys. For residents and community members that cannot attend the August 16th meeting, the Transportation Authority is conducting a survey to gather input.  Staff will be on location at the Harvest Market, 191 8th Street at the following times.  Please stop by to share your opinion, or take the survey online.

• Monday, August 15th: 11am-1pm and 5pm-7pm
• Wednesday, August 17th: 11am-1pm and 5pm-7pm

Upcoming Community Meeting No. 3. Tuesday, August 16th, 2011.  10:00am at the Cannon Kip Senior Center at 705 Natoma Street.  In this meeting, community members are invited to share input on design proposals in the following areas:

• Minna Street and Natoma Street, between 7th and 9th Streets
• Ringold Street, between 8th and 9th Streets
• New mid-block crossings at 7th, 8th, or 9th Streets.
• Traffic calming and new pedestrian amenities; shared street concept; incorporation of cultural heritage elements.

See multiple design options for each location and potential new amenities.  How much on-street parking space should be re-purposed as pedestrian space? Which kinds of amenities should be installed in new pedestrian space?  See current design concepts under Conceptual Designs below.

Based on community input from these meetings and surveys, we will select a preferred alternative that could fall anywhere between the Optimized Sidewalk and Optimized Parking alternatives in terms of its balance between parking and pedestrian space.  

For more information: Contact Chester Fung, Senior Transportation Planner at the SFCTA, at 415.522.4804 or via email. These is disabled access; translation available upon request prior to the meeting; snacks will be provided.

Community Meeting No. 1. Community members from around Western SoMa gathered in July 2009 to learn about the proposed transportation improvements and to discuss current and future community needs and priorities. Download the presentation boards (PDF) from that meeting to learn more about what was discussed.

Community Meeting No. 2. Community members gathered on October 5, 2010, to provide input and feedback on the proposed alley traffic calming and pedestrian improvements. Download the overview presentation (2MB PDF) and display boards (721KB PDF) from that meeting to learn more about what was discussed.

TECHNICAL REVIEW

The Study conducted a technical review of the area's transportation conditions and a screening process to select focus areas from the full list of proposed improvement ideas from the Western SoMa Community Plan. The review revealed, among others, a need for traffic calming and better pedestrian conditions, identifying the area's alleys as sources for enhanced and increased pedestrian space. The project screening process identified three particular alleys for improvement.

See the Technical Review (PDF, 2.5MB) and Screening Analysis (PDF 700K) reports for more detail.

CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS

The designs below illustrate different concepts for each alley that balance the demand for parking with the demand for pedestrian space.

Minna/Natoma

An Optimized Sidewalk design would remove 46 parking spaces to allow room for eight chicanes to calm traffic through curves and jogs, and 34 bulb-outs to create space for pedestrian amenities such as trees, seating, and bicycle racks.

An Optimized Parking design would remove 21 spaces and allow room for 6 chicanes and 25 bulb-outs.

Ringold

An Optimized Sidewalk design for Ringold would remove 5 parking spaces to allow room for 12 bulb-outs to create pedestrian space and 4 chicanes to calm traffic.

An Optimized Parking design would move parking to the other side of the street, and add one space for a total of 12. It would also provide space for 4 bulb-outs and 3 chicanes.

A Shared Street design would create a street-space that is designed to be shared by pedestrians, bicyclists, and slow-moving autos. This design would remove 5 parking spaces to allow room for 18 bulb-outs and 3 chicanes.

IMPLEMENTATION

The improvements identified through this study are expected to be competitive for multiple funding sources, including:

• Transportation for Livable Communities, which funds non-motorized and transit enhancements within Priority Development Areas (PDAs). The entire Western SoMa area is located within a PDA.
• Proposition AA, a new funding source approved by San Francisco voters in November 2010.  Expected to raise approximately $5 million/year, the expenditure plan calls for 25% of the funds to be dedicated to projects that increase the safety and usability of streets for pedestrians.
• Safe Routes to Transit, which funds non-motorized inprovements that improve access to major transit corridors. Just a few blocks from the Mission and Market Street transit corridors, Minna and Natoma improvements would likely compete favorably for this funding sources.  

FEEDBACK

For questions regarding the Western SoMa NTP, please contact Chester Fung, Senior Transportation Planner with the SFCTA, at 415.522.4804, or via email.