San Francisco's Running Out of Room for Cars

In terms of land area, San Francisco’s a small city. Yet if current policies persist, the city will build 92,000 parking spots for residents by 2040, on just 49 square miles of land.

1 minute read

February 17, 2014, 1:00 PM PST

By Anna Bergren Miller @abergrenmiller


San Francisco Density

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That’s led some observers to suggest that now is the time to get real about changing San Francisco’s transportation habits. It’s not just a question of ideology, as Aaron Bialick points out. Beyond environmental concerns is a simple question of space: how many more cars can the city realistically hold?

Even the the Market-Octavia Plan, which has a strict maximum parking ratio, fails to set an upward limit on parking expansion. “Unless plans and the priorities of our leaders change . . . , San Francisco is destined to have worse congestion, less effective transit, and unlivable streets,” writes Bialick.

Friday, February 14, 2014 in SF Streetsblog

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