A long-delayed project to add a protected bike lane and improve pedestrian safety along the south side of the Panhandle on SF's Oak Street looks to be moving forward, with a final vote at the SFMTA board meeting Tuesday.The North of Panhandle Neighborhood Association (NOPNA) has been pushing for str eet improvements on Oak Street, to mirror those previously made on Fell Street, for a decade now. And, as the Chronicle reports, the SFMTA has settled on a final design for a "quick build" project on Oak Street, some opposition in the neighborhood has quieted down, and the the SFMTA board will take a final vote to approve $1.3 million to execute the plans at its April 1 meeting.Much like the Valencia Street bike lane project which has been a source of unending controversy for several years now, the Oak Street Quick-Build project will remove 23 parking spaces along the north side of Oak Street in order to create a protected bike lane between Stanyan and Baker streets. A parking lane will still exist in the new design, between the bike lane and the traffic lanes, and the number of traffic lanes will be reduced from four to three. And all the parking spots on Oak between Ashbury and Masonic will need to be removed in order to create two left-turn lanes at Masonic.The proposed Oak Street Quick-Build design, via the SFMTAAdvocates from the neighborhood have complained for years about too many cyclists using the shared path through the Panhandle Park — particularly those traveling east, because those traveling west have the option to use the Fell Street bike lane. The shared path has become crowded with pedestrians and cyclists swerving around them in recent years, prompting calls to give cyclists a faster lane on the Oak Street side as an alternative.Perhaps the most dangerous part of Oak Street for pedestrians and cyclists is the busy intersection of Oak and Masonic, and this stretch of Masonic has long been known to city officials as a "high-injury corridor." Before this project was delayed, in January 2020, a 54-year-old woman was standing on the sidewalk at this intersection when she was struck and injured by a vehicle that had been rear-ended by another vehicle.As a first phase of the project, which would likely be done by summer, new crossing signals will be installed at Masonic Avenue for both pedestrians and cyclists, so that they can cross safely before left-turning traffic begins from Oak.Design via SFMTAThe bike lane will be protected by flex posts, like the one already installed on Fell Street, along the north side of the Panhandle. As the SFMTA has noted, collisions on Fell Street involving cars, cyclists and pedestrians have gone down 38% since that lane came into being five years ago, compared to the previous five years. Collisions involving cyclists and pedestrians hit by cars have gone up 2% on Oak Street during the same period.NOPNA refers back to a fatal pedestrian crash that occurred in October 2018, which killed LGBTQ advocate Norman Tanner, saying that these changes are long overdue.Thr group's secretary, Robin Kutner, tells the Chronicle, "The longer we delay this project, the more likely that is to happen again."One of the vocal opponents of the project, the exclusive Urban School, which sits on Oak Street and recently built a new gymnasium there, had complained about the loss of parking in a neighborhood where street parking is already scarce. But the school has since backed down, and they tell the Chronicle they voiced their concern, but won't be speaking against the project at the SFMTA board meeting next week.Controversy about this project, of which there is still likely to be some, mirrors fights we've seen over the elimination of cars on nearby JFK Drive and on the Great Highway in the Outer Sunset. But unlike the Valencia Street center bike-lane experiment, which the SFMTA has had to remove, the Fell Street bike lane has not sparked much complaint at all since it was installed five years ago.Top image via the SFMTA ...read more read less