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SF's Valencia Bike Lane Remodel Set to Begin February After Appeal Rejected

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A bicyclist and a scooter ride on the Valencia Street center running bike lane in San Francisco's Mission District on Aug. 23, 2024. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

After more than a year of unrest over a controversial bike lane project on a section of Valencia Street in San Francisco’s Mission District, the city’s Municipal Transportation Agency is once again making changes in an attempt to improve safety, boost business and ease travel.

Work to relocate Valencia Street’s bike lane from the center to the curb will begin on Feb. 10 after the city’s Board of Supervisors unanimously rejected a community group’s appeal for a more thorough environmental review. The vote cleared the final obstacle for the MTA to move forward with the Mid-Valencia Curbside Protected Bikeway Project, a reversal planned since last summer.

VAMANOS, a collective of Valencia Street merchants, appealed the project’s approval, arguing that the San Francisco Planning Department wrongly granted it a statutory exemption under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). The group demanded a full Environmental Impact Report.

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“There’s no discussion of what the implications of the project will entail to the commercial corridor and its historic value,” said Julio Ramos, an attorney for VAMANOS.

The appeal claimed that the project overlooked its impact on the neighborhood’s historic character and failed to address how reducing parking could worsen air pollution, among other concerns.

A bicyclist rides on the Valencia Street bike lane in San Francisco’s Mission District on Sept. 22, 2023. (Beth LaBerge/KQED)

San Francisco Planning Department officials defended their decision, citing the law’s exemption for projects that “implement pedestrian and bicycle facilities that improve safety, access, or mobility.”

“This statutory exemption was created to streamline environmental review under CEQA for public transportation and bike and pedestrian infrastructure projects that reduce car dependency,” said Jennifer McKellar, an environmental planner with the SF Planning Department.

The Board of Supervisors’ decision to move forward with the project ushers in another era of dramatic change for the corridor. In August 2023, the SFMTA began a one-year pilot of a center-running bike lane on Valencia between 15th and 23rd streets, designed to improve traffic safety, business access and the local economy.

The project faced strong opposition from some cyclists and local businesses, who claimed the design was unsafe, confusing, and discouraged customers. In response, the SFMTA is moving forward with a curbside protected bikeway featuring a novel design with both floating and non-floating parklets outside restaurants and a bike lane weaving between them.

Despite progress, the project remains highly divisive. Many merchants continue to bemoan the parking loss caused by the curbside-protected bikeway design.

“I think that turning Valencia Street into a wonderful place for bikers really serves a tiny demographic of our city,” said Betsy Barron, the owner of Love and Luxe, a jewelry store on Valencia Street. “I hope that we can create a corridor that’s family-friendly and friendly to people with disabilities because they are being overlooked.”

Others remain optimistic about the next phase of the redesigned Valencia Street.

“The curbside protected bike lanes will allow people biking and scooting to easily stop and park at businesses along the street,” said Matt Bigger, a father who lives in the Castro District, “So I really believe this is a move to bring our local businesses, biking, and walking together in a very vibrant way.”

The transition to a curbside-protected bikeway is expected to take two to three months, weather permitting.

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