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TRANSACTIONS NEWSLETTER ONLINE
July/August 1999: TLC

16th Street BART Community Design Plan, San Francisco
Illustrated Project Descriptions

Since 1995, when Mission Street residents and merchant associations expressed deep concerns about safety around the 16th Street BART station plaza, community organizations have been working to redesign and revitalize this busy San Francisco transit center.

In 1997, an initial $25,000 TLC planning grant, combined with BART matching funds, enabled the Mission Housing and Development Corporation -- joined by Urban Ecology, BART and the San Francisco County Transportation Authority (SFCTA) -- to conduct an extensive community planning process to resolve the plaza's safety and access problems. Their solutions included removing physical barriers to improve visibility and feelings of safety in the plaza, creating a place for community events, public art and vendors, and encouraging pedestrian-oriented development near the station.

Now, a $1.7 million TLC grant, plus $260,000 from BART and the SFCTA, will fund the final design and reconstruction of the southwest plaza, which is scheduled for completion in January 2002.

16th Street plan

Design elements of the revitalized southwest plaza at the 16th Street BART station include lighting, landscaping, bus bulbs and canopies, paving and reduction of the circular opening around the BART entry. (Click image to enlarge)


16th Street before Existing walls and fences around 16th Street BART station entrances set up physical and visual barriers that create an unfriendly and unsafe environment for community residents and transit riders. (Click image to enlarge)

The 16th Street BART Community Design Plan is the first piece of a larger Mission Street Corridor Revitalization Project, in which the city of

San Francisco intends to encourage multifamily housing development along this important transit corridor.

-- Marjorie Blackwell

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