Bike lane will slow down speedy Sloat

Sloat Boulevard between 19th Avenue and Sunset is wide, straight and fast: A perfect recipe for leadfoot disaster, as we’ve seen over and over through the years.

Caltrans has put the brakes on Sloat Boulevard traffic by adding a bike lane between 19th and Lakeshore Plaza. Yes, Caltrans. If you haven’t seen the signs, Sloat Boulevard is the vestigial tail of State Highway 35, curling east from Skyline Boulevard at the Zoo toward its terminus at 19th.

The 3/4-mile stretch of three-lane highway has been cut down to two lanes for cars, and one seven-foot bike lane buffered by a four-foot wide safety zone.

If one less lane of roadway doesn’t slow things down, then a reduced speed limit should do the trick. In addition to the bike lane, Sanfranciscoize writes that the speed limit on Sloat will soon be reduced from 40 to 35 miles per hour.

Traffic planners are hoping the $130,000 it cost to restripe, partially repave, and otherwise improve safety along Sloat means less speeding and an end to the fatal accidents that seem to occur all too frequently.

SFStreetsblog reports the Caltrans improvements followed a request from District 4 Supervisor Carmen Chu.