Riding to/thru GG Park this weekend, a question kept nagging at me: Why does San Francisco have so many huge holes in its bike “network”? It’s still nagging at me. Cc @sfbike @jeffreytumlin @transpocrat @PeopleProtected

I’ve biked in many cities and almost never encountered the disregard for connections between safe streets. We have a mostly-car-free route thru Golden Gate Park! So why do children have to bike on an unprotected block in the middle of 6 lanes of traffic to get there?

In D6 where I live, our city’s newest neighborhood (Mission Bay) has doorzone lanes on its main local thoroughfare (4th Street) but they are always blocked by double parking and the lanes randomly end before Channel St. Why is that?? @MattHaneySF @sfmta_muni

Heading the other way towards the area’s best protected lane (Terry François) puts you on 16th, where the painted lane sometimes disappears, even though there’s plenty of room for a parking protected bikelane. Why wasn’t this connected safely to TF Blvd?

Terry François Blvd—a two-way protected lane along the waterfront that is very safe and pleasant—dead ends at a private construction site and dumps cyclists into wrong-way car traffic? Who @sfmta_muni okayed this? Why was no detour installed? @SF311

From there, heading south to D10 ( @shamannwalton’s district) the main bike route is literally a parking lots / loading zone. The painted lanes disappear often and there’s zero protection.

If you take TF Blvd north toward SoMa, there’s a much beloved new protected bikelane on the bridge. But it dumps anyone heading into soma into a lane of car traffic. Easily could have a curbside lane through to Townsend, the closest major bike route. Why doesn’t it??

Third Street recently got approved for transit and pedestrian safety upgrades but bicycle facilities were ignored, & 2nd Street is still incomplete years later. Why wasn’t a protected lane considered for third?

Instead, the city put N/S protected lanes on 5th Street (which are great). Unfortunately the lanes DISAPPEAR adjacent to the freeway on ramp—the most dangerous part of the route! Who made that decision?

Form 5th you can get to Folsom, a quick-build parking protected bikelane. But in either direction, the lanes are not complete. Why was Folsom not done as a complete project end to end? Why does @sfmta_muni work a few blocks at a time instead of an actual route?

The city recently announced a quick-build project from 5th to 2nd to fill a gap in the network on Folsom. But the new project doesn’t address the holes in the existing “protected” lane. No protection at 6th & Folsom where Amelie was killed by a turning truck.

That’s a part of a future longterm project so there’s no plan to address this gap for years. why would there not be more urgency to improve a street where someone died? How do we fix a process that won’t even alter bad street designs when someone needlessly dies?

Protected bikelanes save lives, and they are one of the cheapest street upgrades to install. @sfmta_muni & @jeffreytumlin could target our most dangerous routes and actually complete the safe bike network this year, amid a biking boom citywide. Why won’t they?

Some of these spots need zero outreach or engineering, like JFK at Stanyan. Protective posts could fix that hole tmrw. What else, besides dying in a car crash (which often doesn’t work) do San Franciscans need to do to convince leadership to take this seriously? Cc @DeanPreston

Why is SF unique in failing to finish its bike safety projects and link them to other safe routes? Why do we let @sfmta_muni call this a “network” when the links are severed every few blocks? some more examples on 7th, a “protected” route :(

I genuinely want advice or ideas if you have them! I’ve been asking city staff/ project planners about protection for some of these spots for 8+ years. Filled out the surveys, attended public meetings, all of it. How do we fix this??

ps. @baywheels & @lyft could be good corporate citizens and help SFMTA build safe bikelanes a lot faster!

pps. and for good measure, I don't think there's a single @SFBART or underground Muni station in San Francisco that can be accessed via protected bikelanes. :(