»In which no-one is surprised

No-one, perhaps, except for the pot dealers. Matier and Ross go on about the new Octavia Boulevard's baffling traffic flow:

It's your typical "only in San Francisco" story, one that pits cars against bicyclists, politicians against planners -- and right-turn bans against reality.

The issue: a $26 million Central Freeway on-ramp, at the foot of the newly built Octavia Boulevard, that you can't turn onto from the city's main drag, Market Street.

It took 14 years of debate, three ballot measures and a dozen designs before Caltrans crews set to work demolishing the earthquake-damaged Central Freeway and turning Octavia into a $62 million, tree-lined boulevard.

Once work got started, bicyclists -- a potent force in city politics -- took aim at what they saw as a menace to the two-wheel crowd. That menace was the plan to let cars make a right turn off Market, across the most heavily used bike lane in the city, onto the new on-ramp.

City traffic officials didn't buy into their demand for a right-turn ban. So the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition and others took their case to the Board of Supervisors, where then-board President Matt Gonzalez carried legislation in August 2004 to ban the right turn -- at least on a trial basis.

Upshot: The only way to get onto the shortened Central Freeway from Market is to shoot past the ramp, make a series of turns around the block and hit the ramp directly from Octavia Boulevard.

Well, that's the only legal way. The reality is that motorists are saying "to heck with this,'' and are making the turn anyway.

At least one bicyclist has been hit by a right-turning car since the ramp opened two weeks ago, and there have been scores of close calls.

"Stand there five minutes, and you will see 15-plus cars ignore the no right turn and make one,'' Peter Surlly wrote this week on a Craigslist post. "Where in hell would someone who doesn't know the city try to find (another) on-ramp?''

Our own inspection of the intersection this week found good reason to be concerned. No sooner did we arrive than a Yellow Cab ignored the "no turn" sign and whipped right onto the freeway without stopping.

Even Derek Martin, the bicyclist who was clipped by a Jeep Wrangler last week (he's OK), said the city should allow right turns. "The original design for the intersection would have been safer," he said.

Representatives of the Bicycle Coalition agree that the intersection is unsafe and say a redesign is needed, only they have an entirely different plan in mind from what car drivers might prefer: a crackdown on motorists.

Andrew Thornley, the coalition's program director, says the city should make it even "harder to turn onto the freeway.''

Plus, he says, there should be "video cameras to catch people and strict enforcement with pretty harsh fines.''

Stuart Sunshine, the acting head of the Municipal Transportation Authority traffic agency, says the no-turn law was meant only as a six-month experiment and that his department could propose eliminating it down the line.

But San Francisco Transportation Authority boss Jose Luis Moscovich, whose office administers most of the city's transit funds, said, "I thought it was a permanent thing."

It sure looks like it's permanent. San Francisco and Caltrans just put the finishing touches on an elegant new, palm tree-lined plaza at the intersection.

And while Moscovich said permitting right turns would be as simple as taking the sign out, the Department of Public Works figures it would mean reconfiguring that plaza -- to the tune of about $140,000.

Whatever they decide, we did find at least one bicyclist who likes the new freeway ramps landing at Market Street.

Sistar Aquadivina, who works at the ACT UP SF pot club on upper Market, says, "It's great for business.''

Meanwhile, a massive campaign in the Republic of Ireland aims to reduce drink-driving, increase seatbelt use, and get people to look where they are driving. The ads are gruesome, grim, and passionate. And pull no punches.
Have I complained about Octavia Boulevard lately?