Mayor Edwin M. Lee as part of the Nation’s first Walk to Work Day launched San Francisco’s Pedestrian Strategy to increase walkability around the City and make all neighborhoods safe for pedestrians as outlined in the Mayor’s Pedestrian Safety Executive Directive. The Pedestrian Strategy focuses on actionable recommendations to reduce serious or fatal pedestrian injuries by 25 percent by 2016 and by 50 percent by 2021.

“The Pedestrian Strategy outlines specific actions to cement our commitment to safer, more walkable streets for everyone who walks around our beautiful City,” said Mayor Lee. “If we can prevent an accident from happening, we must. Everyone is a pedestrian at some point, and their safety is our highest priority.”

Mayor Lee with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and the Department of Public Health (DPH) led a multi-agency and multi-stakeholder effort to develop immediate and long-term actions that will reduce accidents, injuries and fatalities. The strategy represents an unprecedented level of City coordination on pedestrian safety with key actions that include:

• Upgrading 44 miles of streets where injuries are most concentrated, 5 miles per year through 2021;
• Giving pedestrians extra crossing time at 800 intersections citywide, at least 160 annually;
• Improving safety around schools and senior centers with high pedestrian injury ;
• Upgrading 13,000 curb ramps in the next 10 years; and
• Targeting police enforcement efforts on the City’s most hazardous corridors and intersections.

To read the Pedestrian Strategy, go to: sfmayor.org/pedestrianstrategy.

For the next two years, part of the Strategy will be funded by the voter-passed Road Resurfacing and Street Safety (RRSS) Bond Proceeds – a General Obligation bond that prioritizes pedestrian safety improvements along with streets, bike and transit improvements. The SFMTA will also continue to plan and implement traffic calming and pedestrian and bicycle safety projects with the Department of Public Works overseeing their construction.

"We applaud the Mayor's leadership in releasing this plan to fix five miles of streets per year to make walking safer for everyone. This is needed to reduce injuries and invest in thriving, walkable neighborhoods. We are eager to see wider sidewalks, calmer traffic, more trees, and better crossings for Walk to Work Day and every day," said Elizabeth Stamp, Executive Director of Walk San Francisco.

Looking forward, in his recent State of the City address, Mayor Lee called for the SF 2030 Transportation Task Force to advance a set of priorities and actionable recommendations to improve the condition of our streets and make the transportation systems in our City work the way we need them to – including a focus on pedestrian safety, improved cycling and transit.