I work just off Market Street in San Francisco. The city recently closed this section of the street to private automobile traffic, part of a larger, global trend towards car-free streets. I’m cautiously optimistic. State Street in Chicago serves as a cautionary tale, but the analogy is imperfect.
A (Modest) Win So Far
Most people I have spoken with seem to agree that the recent change has been a positive one. Almost all walk, bike, or ride buses to get to and around the area. It should be safer and faster to do any of these things now. It’s rare to see a change that delivers on both counts. Bike traffic has ticked up slightly. It’s early days.
The most negative reaction seems to be: meh. The pessimists claim there haven’t been many cars on Market Street in this area for some time. It isn’t a convenient or comfortable street for drivers. Despite the ban, there’s almost always a tourist or jerk driving on the street. Walking in the area is still a crappy experience, sometimes literally. No one seems to particularly enjoy Market Street.
To me, the street is noticeably quieter during off-peak hours. Most of the pessimists I’ve met are unaware that further changes are coming to Market Street. Hopefully these changes further improve the experience.
State Street
When I was studying transportation in the early 2000’s, I learned about an effort 40 years ago to make State Street in Chicago car-free. The effort was a failure; local businesses went bust and the area was eventually reopened to all traffic. State Street is the go-to example for those opposed to car-free streets. In fact, the SF Chronicle published an article in 1997 using the State Street example to discourage San Francisco from making Market Street car-free.
Many people I speak with today are unaware of the State Street example and even of the possibility of such an effort failing. Perhaps we have been spoiled by the success of removing the Embarcadero and Central Freeways. (Perhaps my sample is biased.) In any event, it’s worth revisiting the example.
Shoppers flocked to department stores and five-and-dimes on busy downtown streets in post-World War II America. This traffic slowly declined as people moved to more far-flung suburbs and shopping malls began to proliferate. Banning cars from State Street, in 1979, was an attempt to fight this trend; the project was explicitly designed as a pedestrian mall, a “car-free shopping paradise.”
Car-free State Street is acknowledged as a failure in part because the local department stores closed. The suburban mall(s) carried the day. The effort was also a failure because the area was deserted and felt unsafe in the evening. Wide sidewalks didn’t help. Bus traffic was an irritant without bringing in enough of the needed foot traffic. Other, similar pedestrian-oriented planning mega-projects of the era also often failed even after promising starts.
Market Street Is Not State Street
Wide sidewalks on Market Street can feel unsafe, particularly in the evening near Civic Center. As was the case with State Street, there are too many offices and too few homes in the area. There is an empty mall already on Market Street and other developers are attempting to convert commercial space to office space. The shopping mall era is (also) dying. Let’s not fight this trend. Speaking of trends, BART is losing ridership during evenings and weekends. I worry what will happen when there is an economic downturn. The greatest risk to car-free Market Street is that of a precipitous decline in foot traffic. Finally, it’s worth noting that the area remains ugly, not a particularly pleasant place to be. It had to be said. I say that as someone who loves San Francisco.
However, it’s important to remember that Market Street is not State Street. Market Street is not famous for shopping. The plan is to make Market Street a more pleasant place and to improve local transportation, not to save Gump’s. Removing cars from Market Street is just one step on a long road towards a better Market Street. Market Street is busy until fairly late at night, teeming with overworked (and overcompensated) tech workers. Employment in the area has been growing steadily. The spines of two separate local rail systems lie under this stretch of Market Street. The local buses are much cleaner than the buses that would have been found on State Street.
There are reasons to be optimistic about Market Street. We can make it better. Removing cars is a great first step. Market Street is not State Street.
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