Not many people liked the unconventional center-running Valencia Street bike lane the street had for a year and a half, so SF City Hall decided to move the lanes back to the curb. Now the work’s done, and the bike lanes are back on the side of the street.

It was not a terribly popular decision when the SF Municipal Transit Agency (SFMTA) decided to put the Valencia Street bike lanes in the middle of the street in the summer of 2023, with some exasperated bicyclists nicknaming the center-running bike lane “the Valencia meatgrinder." There were multiple instances of bicyclists being struck by vehicles, often when the cars were trying to make U-turns and drove right into the center bike lane. Businesses on the Valencia corridor hated the new bike lanes, blaming them for an alleged drop in business.

So after many meetings and months of controversy, the SFMTA decided to end this center bike lane experiment and move the Valencia bike lanes back to the curbside in November 2024.


The re-do took a few months longer than expected, but SFMTA just announced that the work to move the Valencia bike lanes back to the curbside has now been completed. They’re even doing a little ribbon-cutting Thursday afternoon in the leadup to this month’s inaugural edition of the new Valencia night market.

SFMTA also made a little helmet-cam video showing what the ride on the new curbside lanes looks like.

“Crews are done painting stripes and installing buffer zones on Valencia,” the SFMTA said in a release. “While there are still a few finishing touches left, the new side-running bikeway is open and we’re excited to welcome cyclists back. The timing couldn’t be better with National Bike Month now underway.”

Image: SFMTA

The new lanes are described as “protected bike lanes,” though the little white bollards do not seem like they would afford much protection. But unlike the previous curbside lane design, the street parking separates the bikes from the moving cars. So certainly parked cars provide some sort of protection from moving traffic.

Though just like with the last Valencia Street bike lane redesign, this new bike lane layout is described as a “pilot program,” and it will be reevaluated after six months. So yes, SFMTA could theoretically tear this all apart and try yet another new bike lane design.

Related: It’s Official: Valencia Street Bike Lanes Moving Back to the Curbside, Starting in January [SFist]

Image: SFMTA