Campaigns > Livable neighborhoods > Tenderloin
Tenderloin
The San Francisco County Transportation Authority's Tenderloin/Little Saigon Community Transportation Study was adopted by the Transportation Authority commission. Livable City worked with Transportation Authority staff and attended community meetings throughout the planning process, which yielded a program of transportation and streetscape improvements for the neighborhood that included better lighting, safer sidewalks, slower traffic and more reliable transit. Unfortunately, some of the more provocative ideas, like converting some of the Tenderloin's unsafe streets from one-way traffic sewers to safer, calmer two-way streets or adding bicycle lanes, are relegated to further study, but the plan does document the community's strong desire for safe, well designed streets that make the neighborhood better for walking, cycling, and transit.
Two-way Ellis and Eddy streets
Ellis and Eddy streets are a one-way pair that serve as important east-west transit, pedestrian, and bicycle routes through the dense Tenderloin-Little Saigon neighborhood, and serve as a gateway to the Tenderloin from the Powell Street BART-Muni Station. The Tenderloin-Little Saigon Neighborhood Transportation Plan, adopted last year by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, recommended restoring two-way traffic on these streets, as well as making the streets more walkable, simplifying the twisting and confusing Muni routes, and adding bicycle lanes.
A resolution authored by Supervisor Chris Daly was approved by the board of Supervisors in Fall 2007. It calls for restoring two-way traffic on Ellis and Eddy and improving the important pedestrian crossing at Ellis and Cyril Magnin streets next to Powell Street Station. The resolution also tasks the MTA with creating a comprehensive plan for further improvements, including corner bulb-outs, landscaping and lighting, and better transit access. Livable City is working with City agencies and Tenderloin advocates to get the traffic changes enacted, and the next phases planned and funded.
Two-way 7th, McAllister, and Leavenworth
this proposal would allow the 5-Fulton Muni line to run both directions on McAllister, eliminating a hairpin turn at 8th and Market that adds about 3 minutes of delay to the route. This change will also link up two-way bicycle routes on Mc Allister, Market, and 7th streets. It will also allow wider sidewalks on Mc Allister and Charles Brenham (7th Street North), creating a more pleasant transit center and gateway to the neighborhood.
Lighting, street trees, and corner bulb outs
The Tenderloin and Little Saigon deserve complete streets, and the City agencies need to adopt standards and an implementation plan for making streets in the neighborhood safe and livable.
Better transit in the Tenderloin
Converting one-way streets to two-way streets allows transit routes to run on the same street in both directions, which makes transit lines more easily understood (legible), and allows streets to be optimized for transit operations, rather than for through traffic. Muni's Transit Effectiveness Project proposes some route changes that will take advantage of the proposed two-way streets in the Tenderloin and SoMa, and Livable City is supporting adoption of those route changes.
