Wiki Wednesday: San Francisco’s Better Streets Plan

The Plan describes a set of policies for the City and County of San Francisco to follow to achieve a more livable streetscape environment. It creates a street typology system for making streetscape improvements, and describes appropriate standard and optional elements for each street type. For each element, there is a set of guidelines for appropriate location and design. Finally, the Plan will describe ways that the City can fund, maintain and enforce Better Streets improvements.

Important tasks, like identifying which streets are of what type, and creating standards for essential elements of successful streets (street lighting and pedestrian-friendly building fronts, for example) are missing so far. The Better Streets project also shied away from addressing the speed and volume of traffic, two critical elements for creating safe and livable streets. Governance (how city agencies plan and coordinate street projects) and a strategy for funding and implementation also need to be addressed.