round of outreach last year, existing conditions and best practices research to develop initial concepts and ideas, trade-offs through achieve better market street goals. going forward will be developing concept design alternatives for community workshop later this year. what is the better market street project. the overarching goal is to revitalize market street from octavia boulevard to embarcadero and reestablish the street as the premiere cultural civic transportation and economic center of san francisco and of the bay area region. we have identified some specific goals around place, mobility and economic development. in our project approach, we're looking at the street as one street, with six unique districts, and really three

major public spaces that punctuate that street, those being embarcadero, holiday plaza and un plaza. the street has one identity, two key components within that identity, one around place-making, really what is market street as a place, what is its identity, what is its public space hierarchy, what's happening in the major public spaces today, and what's really happening within these unique districts as well. transportation, we're looking to enhance the continuous bicycle facility, transit efficiency, reconfiguring of the somewhat awkward intersection and reduction of conflict between all street users. as we look at the six district along the corridor they come to light currently in this breakdown. the embarcadero district which is the city's connection to the

water, the financial district or the professional hub, the retail district, where the lee sure heart, mid-market, which is really an arts and cultural district, civic center, which we're calling the new urban living room, and octavia which is more of a neighborhood, an ideal neighborhood at this poi point. there are multiple efforts happening within san francisco that either touch on market street or affect market straight and/or vice versa. this is by no means an inclusive list. eastern neighborhood trips, mta's transit effectiveness project, core circulation study, second street improvement project, central corridor, central broadway, and the key point in mentioning these is market straight has its own identity and opportunity and challenges. but as we look at these coordination efforts we really have to be thinking about the impact that market street and

other efforts have upon one another. community priorities, in our first round of workshops last year, we asked the community, of these things, what do you rank as most important. and in our survey we found place-making was number one, walking and bicycling, a close second, economic vitality, public transit, civic, connection to neighborhoods and service and taxi access. so this tells us people are thinking about what kind of place market street is as first and foremost in their mind. through the development of our existing conditions and best practices report, we identified six key design drivers. those are improving mobility, enhancement of the public realm experience, spotlighting the unique identity, enhancing access for all, reduction of

conflict and friction, and integration of actions really the form of the street, and how it functions, integrating thes twthes -- those two things. the division for market street, and this is a concept vision sketch here, is really a new synergy and that contemplates the idea that transportation and place making really have an opportunity to synergize and become to support one another in a seasons. so this image particularly shows the edge of un plaza where we have multiple transit lines running. it's a concept showing a cycle track and street light zone and capitalizing on that edge to integrate those two functions. the public space, the idea really is coexistence, really embracing diversity and being

inclusive. thinking about the public space that we have, really creating a compelling and attractive street, that's an enjoyable place and that is active throughout the day, week, and year. there's a hierarchy in spaces currently within market street, and a space that we've identified as potential. the city space, or what we're calling city space, is really those larger public spaces, such as un plaz, holiday plaza, and embarcadero, where people gather and activities happen. the district scale is a bit of a smaller plaza such as mechanics, crown, or one post, where activities happen as well but on a slightly smaller scale. what this project is looking to do is think about the concept of a local node, how as to capture things on a smaller scale and capitalize on activities that are happening, or create a local node as a bit of a driver.

for street light zones one of the key things we're looking to do is integrate place making and capitalize and enhancing the district character. this multi-use zone will invite diverse public life, create some continuity along the street, and promote opportunities for integration of walking, bicycling, and public transit. we've identified two types of nodes along the corridor. one is a connector. this is the more linear type of street light zone where you may not want to invite as much activity as a node per se, but where activity is happening. so it's providing moments or spaces for people to congregate. this example shows financial district type of example, where you have a lot of people

outside, doing business, meeting friends, maybe recreate some seating, and some areas for people to congregate in the outside. the node is really more robust meeting place or a place where we're capitalizing on activities that are already happening. so there's more opportunity here for a varying activities. this is an area where cafes could spill out, where we might have tables and chairs, or even some type of urban activity, chess-playing, those types of ideas. this is an image of a node which shows a performance happening within that node and some seating and some wind screening. this graphic shows our initial pass that where some of these nodes might be located. we have a set of criteria as to how we located these nodes,

which is links to pedestrian network and neighborhood attractions, potential for ground floor activation, a complement to the transit experience, also very important is microclimates, so sun access, shelter from the wind, thinking about the current noise levels. and street life, the potential to generate larger pedestrian volume, potential to generate more street light activity and or catering to a wide range of users. this was our criteria in locating those initial proposed nodes. in talking about the bicycle facility and the project really inspires to improve the safety and comfort of people on bicycles, acknowledging that there's a large number of bicyclists and that trend is rise we need to think of the role on market street.

there are currently two options that we're considering for the bicycling facility. one on the left is the shared lane, in which the travel lane is shared with transit and autos. this is, in some places, how it exists today. with additional traffic restrictions, in other words additional car restrictions, which i'll talk about in a minute, this is a viable option. the benefit to this option is really that there's -- it eliminates the lateral movement and/or pinch points between bicyclists and vehicles so it's clear that everyone is to be in the same space. and we can use color and other markings to identify this more clearly. the cycle track, which is the second option on the right is a physically separated bike facility. the image shows a vertically -- i'm sorry, a horizonal implementation. in other words, the cycle track

itself is slightly raised off of the roadway and slightly lower than the sidewalk edge. this is also possible to do with a vertical separation such as what is out there today with safe hit posts or other types of vertical treatments. this is just one way of considering that. so the benefit to the cycle track option is it's a clearly separated facility. again, the lateral movement and the conflicts that happen there would be eliminated by this. those options include improvements to intersections and a reduction in traffic lev level. what are the tradeoffs. cycle track reduces conflict between bicyclists and traffic but can -- with loading activity including services that need access to the curb. the shared lane retains some of those conflicts with vehicles

and boarding activities but there's a reduction in potential conflicts with pedestrians. the public transit. the goals around public transit really are to improve the oaf all experience for public transit, walking to and from stops, waiting at the stops, experience riding transit, to make transit less prone to delay and makes the wait more pleasant. i should mention that both of the options that i'm about to discuss would -- both involve stop locations and spacing and some proposals around that. boarding islands that would be i had wider and up to current accessibility code, and local service at the curb is maintained in both of these options. so alternative one is what we're calling the enhanced local. this is a slightly more minor

move than the rapid. the transit service is somewhat similar to the existing operation in terms of where the lines run. there's a continuous center transit only lane and 25% fewer island stops than there are currently today. this would be an improvement in transit time and reliability. that's part of the work that we're going to study as we move forward with this phase so we don't have the exact details of how much time and what that impact is on the larger system yet but the idea here is that a minor stop reduction would help with transit time and reliability. the rapid option really is a stop consolidation that mic mix the muni or bart portal. it's more stop consolidation. also a continuous center running transit only lane, roughly half as many island stops as exists

currently today. and we believe that will result in it significantly faster and more reliable transit service. the tradeoffs here. for either option, if there is no cycle track buses and bicycles must share the lane and this may not achieve as well our goal of reduction in conflict and friction as there would be leapfrogging of bicycles and buses. center lanes would become transit only, buses and curb lanes would have to contend with auto traffic. stop spacing would increase with fewer boarding islands. there are a few things that would occur in either of those cases that are consistent for standard accessibility consideration, boarding island improvements as mentioned earlier, more amenities at stops so essentially a lot of items being proposed in the transit

effectiveness projects such as off board payment, more amenities would be included in either of these options. the private auto on market street, a few things to note, most of the traffic on market street is crossing. 85% of vehicles on market street are moving in the north-south direction. of the autos on market street the average length of the trip is two ploks. so this is important information as we think about how private autos are using market street today so that we can plan for the future. so the goal of the project is to reduce conflicts and to mitigate multi-modal bottlenecks. we have three scenarios or options for auto circulation. the first is what we're calling auto restrictions. this would maintain auto access to most blocks. it's essentially building on the required right turns that were

implemented at 10th and 6th in the eas eastbound direction d increasing the number of those required right turns. the goal is to take some of that private auto traffic off of market street in order to free up transit and bicycle movement. this option preserves the north-south crossing traffic and really focuses on locations that have the largest effect on reducing the vehicle impact on transit. the second option we've calling a car-free segment which is a combination of the -- what i just described, along with an auto-free segment. we haven't defined exactly what that segment would be but it would be one where we believe having autos, not on the street, would be meaningful, such as 4th to 5th where we have a very high volume of pedestrians, very constrained right of way, or street section.

the idea is that there would be an auto-free segment and this would help mitigate some of that auto conflict with transit and other modes. creates a place-making opportunity in an auto-free segment. also maintains auto access scent for that one segment so we would have to define which segment makes the most sense. and the third option is a car-free market. and again when we talk about car-free we aren't talking about all automobiles. paratransit vehicles, taxi vehicles, and other delivery vehicles would be exempt from this restriction. we are thinking about other potential restrictions to particularly delivery vehicles, but that's not what we're talking about in these options. the car-free option is thinking about car-free from roughly franklin or van ness all the way down to biel. this would minimize conflict

with the other sustainable modes such as transit, taxi, bicycle, pedestrian, simpler from a way-finding perspective. in other words if you're driving, you know exactly where you have to get on and off. eliminates potential for congestion to delay transit on market street. so the tradeoffs in auto restriction option, auto restrictions have many benefits to other modes, improved bicycle comfort, potential to improve transit speed and rehabilitate, reduce conflict with pedestrians. this is something we will be modeling and investigating in our next piece of work, there could be increased conflicts at other streets, particularly in the auto restrictions option where we're adding more required right turns.

so with that, i'm happy to take any questions you might have. >> thank you. any questions from have public comment? >> president fong: i'm sorry. let's take public comment first and then come back to you. is there any public comment on this item? good. >> i'll talk -- for general comment. i saw this before on market street -- i'm sorry, state your name. >> dino -- on market street and other streets we have vehicle lanes that are bus and taxi only. well i drive a vehicle. you guys sometimes drive a vehicle. i don't know how taxis are more important to the traffic than my car. and that's something that i would bring up as a question. >> to answer that, taxis -- you

want me to answer? on.d you like to address -- in this case go ahead and answer that specific question. >> sorry. taxis are considered a sustainable mode of transit and carry also accessible services to and from. so that's our reasoning for thinking of taxis separate from autos. >> thank you pngetsd any additional -- yes, sir. >> commissioners, -- miguel. >> of the public. >> sorry. i didn't turn in a card. you're going to -- the mayor asked me to chair the committee on better market street. and it has been a pleasure. i was a little worried when i saw the list of the committee itself, who our people who have worked not only in san francisco and internationally, but have

actually worked on market street in the past. and i thought it was going to be hurting cabs and it has not been. they have shown up at every meeting, a large committee. they have been able to settle their differences before the end of every meeting. and in particular, i would like to complement neil, griff, and also david allenbaugh from the department in the manner in which they have been able to corral the number of agencies in san francisco on one project. as most of you know, that is nearly impossible to get that type of cooperation. and, also, when we have basically a drop-dead point of 2015, in order to get everything together, past you, passed the

board and pass any objections that may happen. this has been even more complicated in the last year because of what's happening on market street. the retail projects that have come before this commission, the check projects, and the actual housing projects that are going on, even those somewhat actually beyond van ness, that will impact it. it's been an actual pleasure. you see the problems that come up. market street, years ago, was considered the grande boulevard of san francisco. well it may be that, but it's also a series of very individualized segments, from the embarcadero out to let's say octavia.

and even the north and south sides of market street are very, very different from each other. in fact, most of the time, most of the length, they have no relationship to each other. you have right angled intersection south, you have 45 and other degree ang also north. it is a very confusing street to work with. and the fact that the team, led by neil, and also chris, have been able to come this far, is an absolute pleasure. and i will continue working with them until we get this thing finished. and if any of you have any questions at any time, you know how to get ahold of neil, and also myself. so i thank you for that. >> president fong: thank you, mr. miguel, for keeping a watchful eye on this project for us, for all of us. is there any additional public comment? okay. we'll let me start by just

giving some support to this fantastic work. i absolutely agree, anyone who embryos san francisco and its history and its future and what it will look like in 2025 that market street plays a significant role in regards to pedestrian merchant activity. when gayle was here, i understand a little of his principles and his overall theories, if you are kind to the pedestrian or cyclist they will be kind back and i think that applies to merchants and retailers as well and i think this plan starts to address that and lays ground work for the next future of market street. so i am in support and thank you for the update. commissioner antonini. >> commissioner antonini: thank you. a few reflections. of course we don't want to do what we did in the 60's although i don't think what we did in the 60's was so bad in terms of

form. i think we had the misfortune of that happening at the same time while nationwide, there was a decentralization of inner cities, and the suburbanization which worked to defeat our efforts. by the time the project was finished, which the brick sidewalks and the trees were a big improvement over what was there before but there were no businesses left. it wasn't so much the project itself, but the times it came in. and i think the keys are going to be the attraction of retail, housing, commercial and civic activities, particularly in the most challenged parts of market street. a couple of other things. i mean i think your classifications the financial district in my mind goes all the way to the embarcadero but you can call it whatever you want. it really isn't that important. i think we have to go to school from other cities that have improved situations in troubled thoroughfares, time square, broadway in new york comes to mind. the loop has improved a lot in

chicago as well as michigan avenue which wasn't always as nice as it is now so we've got to look at what other cities have done and almost exclusively as i travel around the united states the places that look like market street 20 years ago have improved. i'm talking about the mid-market area. so there is a way to do it. the linear nation of market might make it a little more difficult with the diversity. and also the great boulevards of the world i think we have to take clues from those as to how did they deal with cars, sidewalks, bike lanes, and those sorts of things because some of these car-free malls are failures particularly you talk about sacramento and other areas you go to where absence of cars has created problems a lot worse but it may not be entirely about the cars. another thing i think you need to encourage in regards to these public spaces is private vendors in the spaces that will --

because their business is dependent upon it, will police the areas, they'll attract first of all a clientele that will be there and you'll see a little bit of this in union square and then they will have control over their areas, and therefore elements of the public that may be disruptive could be asked to leave the area. so if you just have a big space there, with nothing in it, there is a tendency for problems to develop. so i think encouraging, you know, vendors that are consistent with it, will help you a lot. and a couple of other things we have to also keep in mind is when we talk about these squares, we have a climate that is a very pleasant one. however, sometimes it's windy. so if you have areas where you want people to be sitting, you're going to want to try to provide barriers to the west, particularly, for the predominant westerlies in the

summer months that come there. because you can have these nice areas but people won't sit there if it's not made comfortable for them. there are lots of ways that can be done. and as far as some of the options you presented, i like the stop spacing option for the transit, which makes a lot of sense. it will move quickly, more flawlessly, eventually it will be a lot like muni metro is in the middle of streets and the bus rapid transit and eventually light rail that will go down van ness and geary and it will make it easier. and the other corollary to that is it allows to free up the right lane so you can have limited auto access, you can have loading and unloading, you can have taxi service, and it gets buse buzz buses off of the.

buses passing buses, pulled over to the side and bus line lanes are never available so everything comes to a stop. but if they have a dedicated lane in the middle it allows them to move quickly and it really is measure rapid. the same thing i feel about auto restriction, i don't think banning autos or having limited areas, but restricting the autos, to just the right-hand lane or whatever lane is left for autos makes it a lot better. most people are going to pass somewhere else. but they will provide eyes on the street too, sometimes and will allow drivers to see what's available there, and come back, or park somewhere, and then walk to it, as in a lot of the commercial businesses want the visibility that comes with people being able to drive by there. so i think it can be worked out with those kind of things that would all fit together. but there's a long ways to go, but those are some of my

thoughts to start with. thanks. >> president fong: commissioner borden. >> commissioner borden: this is a very interesting report and i pretty much live on market street -- octavia so i have a million thoughts just walking on market street on a daily basis. i take the van ness underground and walk the corridor from octavia to van ness almost every day. and a lot of thoughts. going back to what commissioner antonini was talking about i was in europe and my experience is different. from are membership car tree boulevards that are thriving and violates. transit runs through them. you have areas where there's basically preves where the train runs through it. they don't have to have separations and it works peacefully. there's bicycle tracks that go through. those areas are vibrant and interesting. one of the things that's going to be important is looking at design principles we put in place for buildings