DPW has put $42 million toward a repaving and redesign of Market Street over the next four years, and among the proposals is a new separated track for bicycles that hasn't yet been done in any cities in the U.S., but has been used in a few European cities. These "cycle tracks" would be higher than street level but lower than the sidewalk, and would provide a more clearly designated and potentially safer lane for cyclists moving among all the Muni busses, taxis, and cars on S.F.'s main drag.

The proposals came out of a series of interdepartmental workshops last month dubbed Better Market Street, which are part of an "envisioning process" so that the DPW funds can be put to the best use.

The new cycle tracks, as John King explains in the Chron, would require the sidewalks to be pulled back eight feet, and would also create some new tension between bikes and pedestrians at bus and streetcar stops.

Among the other proposals include decreasing the number of F-line stops between Van Ness and Justin Herman Plaza from 12 to 6. King says that all of this represents "a rare chance to begin to bring fresh order and style to the one street in the region that everyone knows."

[Chron]