Photo by SFMTA Photography Department
During its July 25 meeting, the Transportation Authority Board approved the first four multi-year programs and related funding allocations from San Francisco’s new, voter-approved Prop L half-cent sales tax Expenditure Plan. The Board must adopt 28 of these five-year project lists (formally called 5-Year Prioritization Programs) before they can grant funds to projects from the relevant sales tax program.
The first four 5-Year Prioritization Programs adopted and projects receiving funding allocations include:
Paratransit
This program will provide over $13 million annually to support door-to-door van, taxi, and other transportation services for seniors and people with disabilities who are unable to use fixed route transit service. This is an increase in funding over the prior sales tax measure to provide stability for this critical program. The Transportation Authority provides about half of the city’s paratransit budget from the Prop L sales tax and state Lifeline Transportation Program funds.
Street Resurfacing, Rehabilitation and Maintenance
Sales tax funds will provide local matching funds for repaving and reconstruction of City streets through projects such as Mission Downtown West (Mission Street from 3rd to 11th streets), Geary Boulevard Improvements Phase 2 (Stanyan Boulevard to 32nd Avenue), and Market Street from Octavia to Castro streets. The Board also approved $380,000 to purchase new street repair and cleaning equipment including a new street sweeper.
Pedestrian and Bicycle Facilities Maintenance
The Prop L sales tax is a critical source of funding for SF Public Works’ public sidewalk and curb repair which funds damaged facilities.
This Prop L program also supports SFMTA’s bicycle facility maintenance work intended to keep facilities in good repair by repainting bicycle lanes, bike boxes, and other striping, and replacing traffic delineators. The Board’s action included allocation of $518,000 to SF Public Works for upcoming work in this category
Neighborhood Transportation Program
Prop L continues this popular sales tax funded program which supports community-based, neighborhood-scale planning and provides matching funds to develop and implement transportation capital projects identified in those plans.
Each Transportation Authority Board member has $700,000 to recommend over the next five years to respond to local priorities through specific Neighborhood Transportation Program planning and implementation activities. The July Board approvals included coordination funds for SFMTA and Transportation Authority staff to support these efforts. More information, including examples of current neighborhood plans and projects, along with guidelines for developing new plans and projects, are available on the Neighborhood Program page.
New project proposals will be published to the Prop L Transportation Expenditure Plan page.
Next Steps
The remaining Prop L programs including for Muni, BART, streets and freeways will be considered for adoption by the Board later this year, with the next group of programs to be considered at the September CAC and October Board meetings.
For more information, view the slide deck (PDF).