The awkward nexus of Valencia Street, Market Street and McCoppin Street, in what is technically Western SoMa, is about due for a renaissance. The Department of Public Works had planned to revamp the area's dank corners and brighten up the street with some green space since 2005, but those plans were stalled when the city had a hard time selling off the parcels left empty when the freeway came down. Now, According to Streetsblog, that could all change in the next year with a new, food-truck friendly public plaza.

As it is now, the transitional area links bike lanes on Valencia with Upper Market and serves as a host site for Off the Grid's weekly food truck roundups - It works, but it's not much to whiff at. Judging from the renderings and sketches presented by DPW and project architects Boor Bridges, the new space butting up against the freeway off ramp will be appropriately set up to continue handling mobile vendors, but could get some extra spice from some fresh trees, lush planters fancy overhead lighting, a movie screen and a solar-powered bicycle service station.

The plan will still need to go through the environmental review process, but the neighbors generally seem amicable to the idea (And why wouldn't they be? There are food trucks.) If all goes well, construction could begin as early as this Fall. The rest of the SoMa West Improvement Project, which also includes the new skatepark underneath the Central Freeway at Duboce and Stevenson and a mini dog park is expected begin construction next summer.

[Streetsblog]
[SFDPW]