Transportation
San Francisco Debuts Its Very First Elevated Bike Lane
The protected lane is meant to keep cars in their place and cyclists off the sidewalk.
San Francisco just elevated the cause of bicycling safety … by about 2 inches. The city’s Municipal Transportation Agency has debuted its first-ever raised bike path, providing one long (or two short) blocks of protection in the heart of downtown.
The new lane, which stretches along Market Street from Gough to 12th Street, is the first of several such paths San Francisco will build through next year in accident-prone locations. The idea is cyclists will choose the designated path over chugging down the sidewalk, and cars will find it more difficult to roam into cyclist territory.