San Francisco's Raised Bike Lanes Fail to…Rise

Polk Street in San Francisco will not be getting a planned raised bike lane. Problems with traffic blocking the lane on Market Street and with cyclists injuring themselves trying to hop the curb, lead city leaders to opt for "a more traditional lane, which will be protected with soft-hit posts," writes John Metcalfe in CityLab.

This design represents a compromise of sorts. "The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency says it believes lanes in these kinds of heavily commercialized corridors should be protected with a line of parked cars," writes Metcalfe, but this is not possible on sections of Polk, because of limited space in sections that only have parking on one side.