Google bus in a bike lane on the EmbarcaderoIn San Francisco the first official bike infrastructure to hit the pavement was in 1971 shortly after the formation of the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition.  The first lanes were on Lake Street between 10th Ave and 13th Ave.  A little bit more infrastructure followed on Market St but stalled throughout much of the 80's and 90's.  In the nineties an ambitious plan for the Valencia Street corridor was developed while city planners were rolling out what they called "road diets" to calm a number of traffic corridors. Despite strong opposition from a number of city administrators the Valencia road diet was implemented and the number of lanes devoted to cars was reduced while sidewalks were widened and a buffered bicycle lane was implemented in both directions.  

The success of the Valencia St. corridor after the implementation of the "road diet" has led many bike and pedestrian advocates to use it as a model for new street redesigns across the city including the Polk Streetscape Project.  Not everyone is in agreement that adding bicycle infrastructure to a street is an improvement and explain that most streets in San Francisco are much different from Valencia. Part of the intermittent bike lane on Market St.

Types of Infrastructure

Riding around San Francisco there are a variety of types of "bike route" which are usually represented by the same green line on a map.  These range from legitimate separated bike lanes to having sharrows painted intermittently in the doorzone of street parking.  Some of the safest (albeit slowest) places to ride are in mixed use paths along the waterfront.  Bike lane on Illinois St

Traffic codes and riding guidelines

Riding on most sidewalks by adults in the County of San Francisco is illegal.  Although a cyclist should be respected in most traffic lanes according the the California traffic code there are some guidelines. https://www.dmv.ca.gov/pubs/vctop/d11/vc21202.htm

 

 

Opposition to Bicycle Infrastructure

Infrastructure projects are planned by municipal agencies which often hold open houses and community input sessions while projects are in development. Projects which have inspired a lot of ire between bicycle advocates and many locals have been:

References:

For SFMTA data on bicycle routes see:

For a history of the bike advocacy done by the Bicycle Coalition in it's first 40 years there'a a great article in their quarterly publication tube times. 

For a time lapse map of how bicycle routes have been implemented in San Francisco see:

 

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