The last time friends sent pictures of the widening sidewalks on Castro Street in San Francisco, it was late July. A month later I had a chance to see for myself:
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Not much had changed, but I did realize the scale of the project:
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… and how it will change the character of the street:
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San Francisco has a rigorous set of regulations for its commercial villages – yes, the legacy of the streetcar system – to control not only urban design but also the balance of mix and use, even prohibiting chain restaurants in some cases and certainly the concentration of bars. That’s prevented Castro, one of the world’s great gaybourhoods, from turning entirely into a Granville-like strip of clubs and pubs.
But now with the widened sidewalks, it will be possible for the first time to accommodate outdoor patios, allowing patrons to eat and drink – and cruise while seated – for the two long blocks that make up the village.
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Castro will become, in a way, Lincoln Road East. More mundane services will shift to a more affordable Market Street, and Castro may become even more an outdoor dining and drinking room for the City and region.
Two odd things struck me, though. First, that there will apparently be no corner bulges at the intersections (like at Davie and Thurlow):
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I assumed that the City didn’t extend the corner sidewalks out further, to where the orange barriers are below, because they wanted to clear the parking lane for through traffic on some occasions.
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(That was the argument used to veto corner bulges at Pacific and Davie in Yaletown.) But then mid-block, I saw this:
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So if they have extended the sidewalks mid-block, why not at the corners, where they are more practically needed?
And then there’s this:
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And this:
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I know that it’s expensive to move utilities, but really.
I love how adding the cage around the pipe doesn’t make it any less difficult to trip over.
The oddities of an old city…
The absence of corner bulges on the Castro (there’s a joke there somewhere) could be to preserve turning radius for large vehicles (buses or trucks).
Street trees?
Hard to tell from the pix but it looks like they have avoided having a drain where the sidewalk extension meets the former curb line. Neat trick if true.
What I would like someone to invent is a “bike permeable” corner bulge. Many streets have a bit of room to cycle on the side but then you come to an intersection with a corner bulge and you’re forced to “take the lane” in front of motor vehicles.
@Janda: Here you go: http://www.protectedintersection.com/