S.F. makes progress on West Portal traffic changes following fatal crash that killed family of four
San Francisco officials and members of a group who participated in recommending traffic changes to the West Portal neighborhood following a fatal crash that killed a family of four in March marked the progress being made by the Municipal Transportation Agency which has installed some of the traffic restrictions and measures in the neighborhood.
The city’s transportation agency has already implemented new turn restrictions, including no left turns from northbound West Portal Avenue onto Ulloa Street, no westbound through traffic on Ulloa Street at West Portal Avenue and left turns are now prohibited from southbound West Portal onto Vicente Street.
Traffic calming measures have also been installed at Ulloa, Vicente and Wawona streets and the SFMTA converted Lenox Way into a one-way street ahead of the school year as West Portal Elementary School sits atop Lenox Way and Taraval Street.
“When the family was tragically killed by a motorist, it devastated and rocked this community to the core, and we knew that we had to do something about the conditions of the area,” Mayor London Breed said at a press event Friday morning in the West Portal neighborhood.
Diego Cardoso de Oliveira, Matilde Moncada Ramos Pinto, and their sons, Joaquin Ramos Pinto de Oliveira and Cauê Ramos Pinto de Oliveira, were killed in the March 16 crash at the intersection of Ulloa Street and Lenox Way. Mary Fong Lau, 79, the driver accused of killing the family, pleaded not guilty. Media outlets recently reported on what Lau told witnesses and the police following the crash based on court documents.
Following the fatal crash, a public memorial was held at the site of the crash with hundreds attending the memorial.
The mayor thanked the community for coming up with a compromise plan, which came out of the West Portal Welcoming Committee. Supervisor Myrna Melgar, who represents the West Portal neighborhood, and West Portal Merchants Association President Deidre Von Rock, formed the committee after the SFMTA received criticism and backlash from merchants about the original proposal that would have led to more traffic restrictions in and out of West Portal Avenue.
“It’s really important that we come up with ways where we can talk to one another and make progress on our challenging decisions without getting polarized or breaking down communication,” Melgar said.
The committee included residents, merchants, transit experts and advocates who worked with SFMTA planners to develop traffic measures in the neighborhood.
“We invested in some traffic calming and we were more thoughtful about the ways in which we managed the car traffic so that we focused car trips into the neighborhood commercial district while downplaying car trips that were cutting through the neighborhood commercial district,” the city’s transportation director Jeffrey Tumlin said.
West Portal resident and transportation engineer Will Baumgardner, one of the committee members, said he was pleased to have joined the committee to work on solutions.
“I think this was a great example of the city working with the community, listening to the community [and] collaborating,” Baumgardner said.
After the press event, a parking control officer was seen at the intersection of West Portal Avenue and Ulloa Street attempting to inform and guide drivers through the traffic restrictions.
The SFMTA is also redesigning the “horseshoe “entrance in front of West Portal station with planters, a mural and a bike share station with implementation later this fall.
