San Francisco Sightseeing Articles

Coming off a weekend in which New York City gave one of the most famous stretches of street in the world to pedestrians, we're going to San Francisco to take a walk with Streetsblog Network member Pedestrianist. They've got a post on the inadequacy of that city's sidewalks -- and a few very simple suggestions for improvements:

While some neighborhoods in this city have held onto luxuriously wide sidewalks, they are almost all dissected by arterial roads. That is, streets that were re-engineered after the rise of auto-centrism to serve as expressways for large volumes of car traffic. Since these streets tend to be not much wider than average, the extra road space devoted to cars usually comes at the expense of pedestrians.

The intersection of Potrero Avenue and 16th Street is one of the worst. This is a major transfer point for several Muni lines (37,572 people ride the 9, 22, 33, and 53 lines every day). As people dash between buses, McDonalds and the Potrero shopping center, they jostle for limited space with each other and with speeding traffic.

The layout of the intersection hampers pedestrian flow and lowers the quality of this space. This broad square enjoys lots of sunshine and great views of downtown and Twin Peaks. This is a historic spot, where Joe DiMaggio played with the San Francisco Seals. But it's a miserable place, to be avoided even by those who pass through out of necessity; and it doesn't have to be that way.

Pedestrianist goes on the submit a humble proposal for change that includes bus stop and corner bulbouts -- a relatively cheap and easy solution that would provide significant relief.

SOURCE : http://www.streetsblog.org/2009/05/26/the-sidewalks-of-san-francisco/