San Francisco Announces New Pedestrian Safety Program: WalkFirst

Jessica Kwong reports on the unveiling of a five-year program, called WalkFirst, to improve safety at San Francisco’s least safe intersections.

Targetting intersections in downtown, the Tenderloin, and South of Market, “WalkFirst seeks to implement a Pedestrian Safety Capital Improvement Program to address corridors and intersections that represent 6 percent of city street miles but account for 60 percent of severe and fatal injuries.”

The city will require more funding to cover the costs of the program. “But the $17 million over five years secured so far for WalkFirst is not enough to cover the improvements needed. Measures in the works for the November ballot could boost that to $50 million, which would cover the capital improvement program costs, but $240 million is needed to implement all the needed projects under the initiative.”

The $17 million the city has to spend in the next five years? That’s about what the city spends treating pedestrian injuries every year, according to Walk San Francisco Executive Director Nicole Schneider.