SFCTA schedules virtual town hall on Mission Bay school access

Mission Bay parents will get their first public look at the safety fixes meant to get children to the neighborhood’s new elementary school without forcing every trip into a car. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority has set a June 18 virtual town hall to review the Mission Bay School Access Plan, just as Mission Bay School at 6th Street and Mission Bay Boulevard South nears its planned August 2026 opening.

The 5:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. Zoom meeting is part of the project’s third and final round of outreach. SFCTA says it will recap progress and recent findings, present updated recommendations, and collect more feedback on how families will reach the campus, nearby parks and affordable housing safely. Presentation slides will be available in Chinese, Spanish and Filipino, and interpretation can be arranged in those languages if requested at least 48 hours ahead.

The plan is being led by SFCTA with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and San Francisco Unified School District, using Neighborhood Program funding requested by District 6 Supervisor and Transportation Authority Board member Matt Dorsey. It is tied to the city’s Safe Routes to School target of cutting the share of school trips made in a single-family vehicle to 30% by 2030. SFCTA says the work is intended to fit Mission Bay into San Francisco’s broader low-stress active transportation network and existing and planned transit service.

The pressure point is not just the school itself but the daily trip to and from it. Community feedback has repeatedly pointed to left-turn problems for cyclists, the need to separate bikes from vehicles, raised crosswalks, traffic calming, speeding and failure to yield. Earlier outreach also flagged the Mission Bay Drive roundabout, long waits at rail crossings, cargo-bike parking needs and vehicle queues during special events. SFCTA materials say the plan also is meant to ensure nearby affordable housing is well connected to the school site.

Some of those fixes are already moving. SFMTA says its Mission Bay Boulevard Quick-Build Project will implement near-term safety features identified in the access plan along Mission Bay Drive west of the roundabout and on Mission Bay Boulevard North and South between 4th and 6th streets. The options include separated bikeway treatments with plastic delineators, traffic-calming chicanes, raised crosswalks and speed humps, with some choices giving up parking spaces to improve safety.

The school has been envisioned for more than two decades, and construction has advanced through 2024 and 2025. What remains now is whether the final design can turn Mission Bay’s fast-growing streets into a reliable school route before the first bell rings in August.