Vehicles traversing Church Street in Noe Valley will soon need to make a complete stop at 28th Street. San Francisco transit officials are turning the intersection into a four-way stop in order to provide additional safety for pedestrians crossing the street.
To ensure their doing so doesn't slow down the travel times for trains on the J Church Muni line, engineering staff for the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency said they need to relocate the subway line's current stop at 27th and Church streets to the 28th Street intersection. Yet, residents who opposed moving the stops noted the trains will still need to stop at 27th since it is also a four-way stop, so the new stop signs at 28th are creating an additional stop J-Church trains will need to make as they travel down Church Street.
In addition, the subway line stop for passengers on Church Street at Clipper Street is moving to 26th Street. SFMTA staff contend it will help even out the spacing between the train stops along the thoroughfare.
"It will create a balanced, easy to understand transit stop spacing that will align with the new stop sign," project manager Jessica Kuo told the transit agency's oversight body at its meeting October 15.
The SFMTA board voted 6-0 to approve the changes along Church Street. The new stop signs should be installed in the coming weeks, along with the transit stop relocations.
"In general, I think it is going to be an improvement," said board member Janet Tarlov.
Newly seated gay board member Mike Chen, taking part in his second meeting, had raised concerns about the impacts the changes will have on J Church trains' travel times. He encouraged SFMTA staff to look at ways to speed up the subway along that portion of the route as they undertake an additional review of the Church Street corridor in 2025 as part of the agency's Muni Forward plans.
"I want to make sure we are delivering consistent, reliable, fast service for customers," said Chen.
Residents near the J Church line in Noe Valley near unanimously had supported turning the Church and 28th streets intersection into a four-way stop. Drivers on 28th already must stop there.
But they were largely opposed to seeing the J Church subway stops be moved, arguing the result will be farther distances between the stops and less accessibility for riders. Their calls to split the plan in two and see the SFMTA board only vote Tuesday on approving the new stop signs went unheeded.
"The website says the relocation of the stops will speed up Muni's J Church, which is silly," said resident Marc Norton, noting the changes will not result in a reduction of places where the trains must stop.
To learn more about the J Church project and to sign up for emailed updates on future proposals and meetings, visit its website.
UPDATED 10/17/24 to clarify that adding the news stop signs at 28th Street will result in an additional stop for J Church trains.
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