Thank you for joining the Better Market Street Virtual Open House. This is an opportunity for the public to learn more about the project, view design updates since the last open house, and provide feedback on the project.

How to Navigate:

This website is best viewed on a laptop or desktop web browser, but it is also accessible by tablet or mobile devices. There is a navigation bar at the top of this web page that can help you move to specific sections. Otherwise, for full project context, we recommend scrolling from the beginning to the end.

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Market Street is San Francisco's civic, cultural and economic center. Better Market Street is a multi-phase project that will improve safety and reinvigorate San Francisco's busiest pedestrian, bicyclist and transit corridor from Octavia Boulevard to Steuart Street starting with Phase 1 between 5th to 8th streets.

In January 2020, SFMTA delivered safety and transit reliability measures to Market Street as a part of its Quick-Build program, implementing car-free Market. Elements included:

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The success of Quick-Build to implement car-free Market Street showed us how much can be achieved quickly and efficiently, at low cost and with little to no construction impacts. 

With signage and ground treatments we were able to fundamentally transform Market Street into a multi-modal corridor that prioritizes transit, cyclists, and pedestrians, and allows continued use for taxis, paratransit and commercial vehicles essential for doing business along the corridor.

In just two months between implementation in January and the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order in mid-March, bike ridership on Market Street increased by 25%. In that same time frame, transit efficiency increased by up to 12%.

Given the economic challenges and changing demands we now face in San Francisco due to the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, our departments came together and made the tough decision to adjust the design for Better Market Street in order to move the project forward. As a City, we remain committed to working with our community partners and delivering the Better Market Street project to make this vital corridor safer, more resilient and more inviting for all. -Acting Public Works Director Alaric Degrafinried

The design for the first phase of Better Market Street has been updated since our last round of outreach to better accommodate the increased bicycle volume from car-free Market Street, to minimize construction impacts on businesses along the Market Street corridor, and to align the cost of the project with available funding.

When private vehicles were removed from Market Street, transit became up to 12% faster and the number of people biking increased by 25% to over 800 people per hour at peak.

The sidewalk-level bikeway was originally designed to be 8 feet wide throughout. As design progressed, the design team saw that there were many pinch points along Market Street, such as BART/Muni portals, loading zones and curbside transit stops, that narrowed the bikeway to 5 feet. As a result, the sidewalk-level bikeway would not have enough capacity to keep up with the increasing demand of people biking on Market Street.

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By keeping the existing curb line, the project no longer has to relocate the Path of Gold poles, and the replacement can be postponed until the end of their design life. The project will also postpone replacing the brick sidewalks. In addition, the condition of the water and sewer utilities in Market Street were analyzed and the revised project will renew/replace aging and/or defective utilities, with trenchless methodology if possible, so that construction impacts to businesses will be minimized.

The segment between 5th and 8th streets will be revisited in the future when funding becomes available. In the meantime, the project continues to work with building developers on sidewalk upgrades.

The full project from Octavia Boulevard to Steuart Street was estimated to cost over $600 million when the project was approved. However, the City has only secured approximately $200 million to plan, design and construct the project. The funding gap was going to be a challenge even before the current financial crisis decimated our department budgets. In order to move forward and construct the project, the design scope had to be reduced to fit within the budget.

Below is a comparison of the 2019 and 2020 designs. The total construction cost for the revised Phase 1 will be approximately $111 million. Some of the work on Phase 1 that overlaps with the construction of the F-loop, approximately $17 million, will be moved to Phase 2. The saving in construction costs is approximately $63 million.

Many of the core infrastructure on Market Street are in poor condition and in need of upgrade or repair. For Phase 1, approximately $11 million will go to repairing the water, sewer, and Auxiliary Water Supply System (AWSS). And approximately $7.4 million will be used for roadway repaving and BART grate replacement.

In order to keep Muni operational, approximately $20.5 million will be used for Muni state of good repair such as track replacement, overhead contact system, and traction power system, and approximately $3.2 million will be spent to upgrade the traffic signals to meet current standards and improve visibility.

Based on the design considerations listed in the section above, the project cannot rebuild the entire street from building face to building face. Phase 1 of Better Market Street will focus on constructing improvements that provide the greatest safety benefits and perform the necessary state of good repair work that is required to keep Market Street running. Below are the four parameters that guided our redesign:

• Muni operates only in the center lane
• Shared curb lane with treatments that prioritize bicycles
• Keeping existing curb line and delay replacing the entire brick sidewalk to minimize construction impacts to businesses
• Delaying replacement of Path of Gold poles and other major utility relocations as they are still in good condition

The project will significantly reduce disruptions to businesses along the street, as well as immediate costs, with the redesign. The redesign does not preclude the option to build sidewalk-level bikeways later. We plan to revisit this segment between 5th and 8th streets in the future when conditions improve.

Better Market Street will fully repave the road and replace the worn-down rails, BART grates in the street, and traffic signals. The tracks will be upgraded from “tie and ballast” to “direct fixation”, which will reduce the amount of vibration caused by trains. This will reduce the wear and tear on the roadway surface, lowering ongoing maintenance needs. The BART grates will also be upgraded to a new design that better accommodates bicycle traffic.

The existing traffic signals poles are an older style with smaller, 8” traffic signals, and the poles are rusting and cannot be maintained. The signals will be replaced with new, 12” signals that meet current standards.

The project team plans to replace some water and sewer pipes that have reached the end of their design life and reline others to extend their life. Lastly, some transit infrastructure is worn out and in need of replacing, including the overhead catenary system (OCS), traction power systems that provide electricity to vehicles, and switches.

All Muni buses will move to the center lane, reserving the curb lane for bikes to share with paratransit, taxis and commercial vehicles (note: Uber/Lyft are considered private vehicles and are not allowed on Market Street). By removing curbside transit stops conflicts between buses and people on bikes will also be eliminated. In addition, having all the Muni service in the same lane allows the signals to be optimized to favor transit, minimizing time transit spends at red lights.

The curb lane will have updated bike priority markings on the pavement, speed tables to discourage speeding and a raised buffer between lanes to discourage vehicles from changing lanes. Loading restrictions in the morning and evening peak commute hours continue to limit delivery vehicles and conflicts during the busiest times on Market Street. With car-free Market and the new transit service plan, there will be 75% fewer vehicles in curb lane – less than one vehicle per minute.

All Muni routes on Market Street between 5th and 8th streets will shift to the center in a Muni-only lane – taxis and other buses are not allowed. To reduce crowding for customers waiting, we plan to build new boarding islands that are twice as big as the current ones. The new islands at UN Plaza and at 6th Street will have new shelters with seating, be fully accessible, and include wheelchair ramps for F-line service.

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Better Market Street project will provide upgrades and accessibility improvements to curb ramps, crosswalks, and traffic signals. Below are the upgrades that will be applied to all intersections between 5th to 8th streets.

In addition to the universal improvements for all intersections above, there are additional improvements at each intersection.

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Following the construction project between 5th to 8th streets, we will build the F-line turnaround loop (F-loop) along McAllister and Charles J. Brenham. The F-loop will improve Muni service with new rail along McAllister Street and Charles J. Brenham Place allowing the F Market & Wharves streetcars to return to the waterfront for more frequent service along the high-ridership segment between 6th Street and Fisherman’s wharf, without reducing access to the Castro.

To minimize disruption from construction, the area of work along Market Street between McAllister and Charles J. Brenham will be done as part of the F-loop construction contract. Construction of the F-loop will begin by 2024.

Click the button below to view the detailed proposed plan of Better Market Street between 5th - 8th streets.

Below are block by block slider views comparing existing Market Street to the proposed design.

8th Street to 7th Street shown below with existing conditions on the left and 2020 design on the right. (press icon on top right corner of graphic to expand view)

7th Street to 6th Street shown below with existing conditions on the left and 2020 design on the right. (press icon on top right of graphic corner to expand view)

6th Street to 5th Street shown below with existing conditions on the left and 2020 design on the right. (press icon on top right corner of graphic to expand view)

Typical Cross sections of the project are shown below with 2019 design on the left and 2020 design on the right. (press arrow icon on sides of the graphic to scroll through slideshow)

Design of the 5th - 8th streets segment is currently underway. The project is anticipated to be advertised in Spring 2021 with construction starting in Summer 2021.

The F-loop is set to start design soon after the completion of Phase 1 design, and construction is planned to start by 2024.

For updates and more information about the Better Market Street project, please visit http://bettermarketstreetsf.org/

Your feedback is essential. Use the contact us button below to email us a comment or question to the City about the Better Market Street project or your thoughts about Market Street in general. Also, make sure to let us know if you want to be added to the Better Market Street mailing list to receive email news and announcements for open participation events.

For media inquiries and general project-related questions, please contact:

 Coma Te

Communications & Outreach

 coma.te@sfdpw.or g

Cristina C. Olea, PE

Better Market Street Project Manager

 cristina.c.olea@sfdpw.or g