MTA Board votes to approve Oak Street safety improvements

Oak Street is getting its long-overdue safety upgrade.

The Facts

After years of delay, community pleading, and a fatal hit-and-run, the SFMTA has approved the Oak Street Project. The SFMTA Board of Directors approved the project in a vote on April 1, 2025; Upgrades include:

• A second dedicated left-turn lane at Masonic
• A dedicated roadside lane for cyclists, separated from drivers and pedestrians
• Fixing the traffic bottleneck and chaos by changing Oak’s 2–4–3 lane shifts to a single three-lane design
• Repaving
• Dedicated signal for bikes at Oak and Baker streets.

Changes will roll out in phases, with signal and curb upgrades coming this year and the protected bikeway arriving in 2026, in sync with street repaving. The full upgrade plan and timeline can be found on SFMTA’s website.

The Context

Since 2020, there have been 31 crashes on Oak Street involving cars, bikes, or pedestrians. The city already proved this type of fix works: a redesign on Fell Street cut total crashes by 38% and slashed pedestrian injuries in half. Oak’s version was proposed in 2019, but it stalled out during the pandemic.

The GrowSF Take

GrowSF takes a broad view on street changes: streets can be made safer without making it too hard to get around the City. Too often street changes are seen as a driver vs biker battle, when in reality safety upgrades make things better for everyone. Oak’s upgrades will smooth out the traffic snarl when it goes from two lanes to four lanes and back to three lanes by modifying that section to a simple two-lane to three-lane transition and adding a second dedicated turn lane at Masonic. Instead of fighting with other drivers who realize they need to change lanes too late, traffic will flow better and with much less chaos.

Plus, adding a separated bike lane will ensure bicyclists have somewhere safe to ride home from Golden Gate Park instead of buzzing past people walking through the Panhandle park on the shared path.

And, of course, everyone will benefit from the repaving planned for 2026!