Via BIKE NOPA word comes of San Francisco’s first continuously green bike lane, down there on Market inbound. It seems that Dan Nguyen-Tan thought it was so good this morning, he told two friends about it, and they told two friends, and so on and so on.
So tout de suite, tout le monde learned about it.
Will this greenery hold up better than the fast-fading beige of Market a little bit down the road?
Via Jamison, from today:
Click to expand
Only Time Will Tell
You know that beige color (it’s not paint but I don’t know what it is, actually) that was just put down on Market Street? Well, it’s coming off fast.
From this…
…to this:
Sic transit gloria Market
This is the scene near Union Square, inbound, right down the street from the latest the latest MUNI bus vs. cyclist collision.
(Dude got scuffed up by an articulated 38 Geary (or whatever – it’s line number had been switched off) but he looked O.K. when they were putting him the ambulance.)
Anyway, here it is:
Click to expand.
Beige? Really? Wasn’t it supposed to be painted green?
(Beige. I think I’ll paint the ceiling beige, after seeing this glorious color up close.)
But, anything for safety’s sake. Hurray!
UPDATE: Turns out, per Bluoz, that this stuff is called “Ride Away/Greenway” or something. It’s from DaVinci Pavement and Design.
And here’s San Francisco Bicycle Coalition Program Director Andy Thornley chirping up to bring it all home:
“It’s actually “fawn” — I brake for Bambi — though others have characterized it as “cafe au lait” or “mochacino” — if it gets people to wake up and pay attention that’s all that matters. It’s another trial for Market Street, joining the forced right turns at 6th & 8th Streets (expect to see 10th Street turns soon) and Art in Storefronts and other good stuff. There’s more to the “Safety Zone” trial, 10 MPH pavement legends and signs, rumble strips, and advance stop lines that will blossom into full-blown bike boxes (with green pavement, you betcha) once the blinking Bike Plan injunction is lifted. These elements (color, rumble strips, 10 MPH marking) will be combined in various ways at the four parts of the 4th & 5th Street intersections (eastbound and westbound), SFMTA and SFCTA folks will be watching and evaluating to see which things are effective at slowing traffic and getting folks to watch out for each other, and then they’ll take the winning combination and implement it at all Market St boarding islands from Castro to the Embarcadero. Get yourself a fresh soy latte and roll on down for a test ride . . .”