Challenge
The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) is working toward achieving Vision Zero. As part of this initiative to prioritize street safety and eliminate traffic deaths, SFMTA has been implementing safety improvements citywide, many of which are innovative design treatments that are new to the city. SFMTA needed to collect data to measure performance of the new techniques, and standardize a process to objectively evaluate success.
Solution
Kittelson worked with SFMTA to develop standard practices for collecting, evaluating, and sharing data for its evaluation program. We compiled these practices in the Safe Streets Evaluation Handbook, a step-by-step guide for SFMTA project managers to help them complete project evaluations. As part of the Handbook, Kittelson also developed standard templates for collecting and analyzing data, conducting community surveys, and completing summary infographics and reports.
The Outcome
Measuring Progress Toward Safer Streets in San Francisco
With completion of the handbook, SFMTA’s Safe Streets Evaluation Program is now able to use consistent metrics and analysis techniques for evaluating projects, sharing the results with the public, and informing processes moving forward. The evaluation program has been expanded within SFMTA so that evaluations are a standard practice for upcoming and recently completed safety projects. (Visit SFMTA’s Safe Streets Evaluation Program webpage to view a copy of the handbook and read more about the program.) In May 2019, SFMTA released a detailed report on the program’s work and findings.
