More Masonic Avenue nonsense

Photo: Jim Herd

Jim Herd on the under-construction Masonic Avenue bike project:

And actually, our SFMTA’s jaywalking issue is more pronounced just north of Geary, but it doesn’t want to acknowledge it. There are pros and cons to this long, drawn out plan to remove lanes from Masonic of course. It would be nice if our SFMTA could acknowledge that as well…IOW, there isn’t yet, nor will there be, any promised “transformation” of the 3000 feet of Masonic betwixt Fell and Geary. That should be obvious to all by now, even before completion. Anyway, I’ve never seen jaywalking on this hilly part of Masonic, until now, in all my years…

Taking the misinformation in order:

"And actually, our SFMTA’s jaywalking issue is more pronounced just north of Geary, but it doesn’t want to acknowledge it."

I cross Masonic almost every day on my daily constitutional, and if anything it has always had fewer jaywalkers than other streets in the area. The center median doesn't change that. For one thing, it's a busy, four-lane north/south city traffic artery that carries more than 32,000 vehicles a day, not a typical two-lane neighborhood city street. That has always made it riskier for jaywalkers who, when the bike project is finished, will also have to dodge cyclists.

What's the "just north of Geary" reference about? People parking on the eastside of Masonic and jaywalking across Masonic to get to Trader Joes half a block north of Geary. A woman was killed jaywalking there a few years ago, an accident that Streetsblog quickly demagogued to indict Masonic in general as unsafe to justify this bike project (see Big Lie on safety to justify screwing up Masonic). 

That's a particularly bad place to jaywalk, since there's a crosswalk nearby at Geary and Masonic. There's nothing more the MTA can do to prevent people from being foolish in that area.

"IOW, there isn’t yet, nor will there be, any promised 'transformation' of the 3000 feet of Masonic betwixt Fell and Geary."

Then why has Masonic been dug up by the city for lo these many months? In fact to make the separated bike lanes, the city is eliminating 167 street parking spaces between Fell St. and Geary Blvd. In a neighborhood already short on street parking, that obviously qualifies as a "transformation." 

By eliminating the parking lanes on both sides of Masonic, the city will no longer be able to change them into traffic lanes during the morning and evening commute.

Parking lanes eliminated, separated bike lanes created: a radical transformation of Masonic Avenue. 

How many cyclists will use those bike lanes? The city has no idea.

The city's Bicycle Plan has always been based on the "mode shift" theory/fantasy: build the bike lanes---by taking away traffic lanes and street parking on busy streets---and cyclists will come.