In a move that many would say is decades overdue, San Francisco is now talking about widening the streets in Chinatown, reports the San Francisco Chronicle (photo by Andrew K Smith)
The streets are packed year round, but are especially crowded around Lunar New Years as people come to Chinatown to both celebrate and buy items for their family gatherings.
“There’s definitely a need that’s more and more on the city’s radar,” said Mohammed Nuru, director of the city’s Department of Public Works. “Chinatown was just built for a different era.”
The sidewalk on Stockton Street which has become over the years the grocery shopping street of Chinatown is ten feet wide. The walkway is made even more narrow by the tables and bins left out by the merchants.
Just on the other side of Chinatown, across Broadway, the streets on Stockton widen to 15 feet and make a huge difference in easing overcrowding.
Similar street widening projects have already been conducted in other parts of the city.
You can read more about what’s being done to possibly speed up the Chinatown project in the San Francisco Chronicle.