After pausing new requests through its popular Residential Traffic Calming Program in June, SFMTA will begin fulfilling its blacklog next week with the installation of speed humps and other traffic-calming measures at 141 locations, a large portion on the city’s westside.

As NBC Bay Area reports, the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency will begin honoring its blacklog of speed-reduction requests next week as part of its popular Residential Traffic Calming Program, which was listed as a priority in the recently signed Street Safety Act, per Walk San Francisco. Launched in 2001, the traffic-calming program collects feedback from communities where speeding is a concern. Per the Frisc, the queue for the program currently consists of hundreds of applications dating back to 2021.  

“Our Traffic Calming Program is resident driven,” per SFMTA. “When neighbors tell us they’re worried about speeding on their block, we listen. We collect data to confirm there’s a speeding problem, and then we take action.”

Per KRON4, the installation is expected to be completed by February, weather permitting, with each location taking two days. The agency notes that residents near the 141 locations should have received a postcard about the project in the mail. The devices to be installed during this phase include speed humps, speed cushions, and speed tables.

Walk SF's website provides more details on the three types of traffic-calming devices. “Speed humps and tables are one of the most powerful tools available to reinforce safe speeds, plus they’re cost-effective and durable. Speed humps, tables, and cushions are all ‘vertical speed reducers,’” Walk SF explains. “Speed humps are rounded; speed tables have a flat top; and speed cushions are speed humps with wheel cutouts designed to allow large vehicles, such as fire trucks and buses, to pass with minimal slowing or rocking.”

Marta Lindsey, communications director at Walk SF, tells NBC Bay Area in the below video segment that traffic-calming strategies are in high demand on San Francisco streets. “These are proven to work. They're one of the cheapest, best solutions out there,” Linsey told NBC Bay Area. “So, it is fantastic that the city’s about to get a big surge of these. And we’re going to need more.”

SFMTA notes that 14 additional locations will be receiving traffic-calming devices in the spring under a second contract with more details to come.

Per the Frisc, eligible locations for the program must be residential streets with less than 7,500 cars per day at speed thresholds of 85 percent or higher (the percentage of vehicles exceeding the speed limit by 5 mph or more). Whether or not locations have any nearby bus stops or hospitals are also factors taken into consideration.

SFMTA was awarded a $6.9 million grant in July to help the agency complete its backlog, while also stipulating that the agency create a new traffic-calming plan by the end of the year, per the Frisc.

The Frisc spoke to Robin Pam, executive director of  Streets for All SF, who’s pushing SFMTA to return to its old method of installing traffic-calming devices in entire neighborhoods — especially those in underserved communities — rather than street-by-street, like Boston recently did.

Pam tells the Frisc the current request-based system is problematic because areas with residents who have more time on their hands to fill out applications and rally neighbors are the ones whose requests are getting filled. Per the Frisc, almost half the total traffic-calming devices are being installed in the city’s westside neighborhoods, including the Sunset, the Richmond, and West Portal during this phase. By contrast, neighborhoods such as Excelsior, SoMa, and Cow Hollow are only getting one or two installations.

“It’s not fair for the loudest, most connected people to get speed humps while others don’t,” Pam told the Frisc.

Pam is encouraging residents who live near one of the new locations to install one of Streets For All SF’s 20 Telraam traffic sensors, which the group is using to collect data on vehicle volume and speed once the calming devices are installed.