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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Contact: Mayor's Office of Communications
415-554-6131
*** PRESS RELEASE ***
Mayor Newsom Announces “Bike SF 2010 Milestones”
Bike friendly initiatives announced as city observes “ Bike to Work” Day
San Francisco, CA - On Thursday, May 17, the Mayor will establish a set of comprehensive milestones called “Bike SF 2010.” These milestones are the first-ever comprehensive goals that will measure San Francisco’s progress in making bike improvements to local streets.
“Once again San Francisco is leading by example. These milestones will encourage more people to use bikes and in turn promote a healthier lifestyle, increase public safety for bike users and ultimately improve the quality of air we breathe,” said Mayor Newsom. “As the city observes “Bike to Work” Day this is a great opportunity for us all to celebrate our commitment to a cleaner, greener, safer and environmentally healthier San Francisco,” continued the Mayor.
The multi-faceted milestones include expeditiously completing required environmental review of the City’s Bike Plan, creating new bike lanes and infrastructure when the environmental review is complete, and halving bike injury collisions. The most ambitious goal in these landmark milestones aims toward San Franciscans using bikes for at least 10 percent of total trips by 2010. A public opinion survey in July 2006, conducted by David Binder Research found that five percent of San Franciscans already use bicycling as their main mode of transportation to work or school.
Bike SF 2010 milestones were developed in collaboration with the Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition. The milestones will be tracked by a Mayor’s Working Group for bike improvements, which will be comprised of key city and community leaders.
Bike SF 2010 Milestones
1. Complete draft EIR of the San Francisco Bike Plan by June 1, 2008.
2. Complete planning work for bike safety improvements at 50 locations, including bike routes such as 2nd St., 17th St., Portola Ave., Masonic Ave., and key intersections such as Market/Valencia and Fell/Masonic.
3. Finish five-year funding plan for City’s bicycle improvement needs in the City, including 6-month progress updates to the Mayor’s Office beginning in July 2007.
4. Install 300 bike racks by 2010.
5. Stripe 20 new bike lanes by 2010.
6. Direct the Department of Public Works to place higher priority on official bike routes in regular street resurfacing process.
7. Actively support ‘Level of Service’ reform at the Planning Commission to better meet the needs of San Francisco’s Transit-First policy.
8. Reach 10 percent of trips by bicycle in San Francisco by 2010.
9. Reduce bicycle injury collisions by 50 percent by 2010.
10. Create a Mayor’s Working Group for bicycling improvements, which meets quarterly beginning in July 2007. This Working Group will include key departmental and community representatives.
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