The Transportation Commission recently endorsed staff’s plans to restripe Park and Webster Streets, specifically, to:
- keep the two lanes of vehicular traffic we have now on each street rather than adding back the two additional traffic lanes we had before the pandemic
- move parking back to the curb
- keep parklets (but shrink the larger ones)
- create regular (paint-only) bike lanes.
As you may recall, in the Active Transportation Plan that was just passed, both of these corridors are slated to be low stress, which means *protected* bike lanes, not painted ones. But the ATP also notes that this is to phase in by 2030. So while it’d be ideal to have protected bike lanes right now, this interim step is not unexpected.
To reduce the likelihood of double parking (and blocking bike lanes), staff confirmed that they were planning to better manage curbside parking: offer short-term, loading, and ADA spots, and revisit parking rates, which haven’t been adjusted in many years. More on how important it is to price parking correctly, so there is always availability, in this great blog post on the Morning Bun, and on other benefits, in this blog post: Better living through parking policy reforms, also on the Morning Bun. A new parking supervisor in Public Works overseeing enforcement and the garage (and hopefully other underutilized parking areas) should also help.
Along with their endorsement, the Commissioners asked for bike boxes to make it easier for bicyclists to turn left and improve their visibility, green thermoplastic for the entirety of the bike lanes, more consideration for curb management, and a plan and schedule around outreach and data collection.