Kirkham Street, a major thoroughfare in the Inner Sunset that was part of the Municipal Transportation Agency’s Slow Streets program for two years, has a new feature. Between Ninth and 10th avenues, a “neckdown” constricts traffic on the two-way street to a single lane, requiring vehicles traveling east to yield to those traveling west.
Sunset resident Al Ghuzi gave an expletive-laden review of the traffic-calming measure.
“It’s [dumb] as fuck,” Ghuzi said. “It causes a traffic jam for no reason. It’s dangerous.”
The neckdown, which took effect Oct. 30, is a trial program; the SFMTA this summer will decide whether to keep it in place after evaluating its effectiveness and doing outreach to neighbors.
It’s the latest effort in the agency’s multi-year strategy of divisive traffic changes, such as the controversial center-running bike lane on Valencia Street. Jeffrey Tumlin, the director who led the transit agency through this period of experimentation, stepped down at the end of 2024, but fights continue to rage over the road changes he ushered in.
Ghuzi, who was grabbing an ice cream sandwich from Roxie Market & Deli, said the signage at the Kirkham Street neckdown is unclear, and he has seen “standoffs” between confused motorists.
“It’s pretty dumb,” said another resident, Jennifer Bie. “I would like to see it go away because I feel like there will be an accident.”
As Bie spoke, a westbound car swerved into the bike lane to avoid the narrow channel.
“New road designs come with an adjustment period,” SFMTA spokesman Michael Roccaforte said via email. “Drivers should not enter the bike lane, and additional delineators are in the works to be installed as soon as possible, and no later than January 31, to prevent this dangerous and illegal behavior.”
Not all neighbors are opposed to the strategy. SFMTA connected The Standard with Manish Champsee, a web developer who lives on the corridor. When Kirkham lost its slow street status in 2022, Champsee and other neighbors reached out to their supervisor, Myrna Melgar, to express their desire for a traffic-calming compromise.
“There really should be something to make Kirkham safer for people walking, people biking,” Champsee said. “Cars slowing down and avoiding Kirkham does contribute to making the street safer.”
He added that it’s a worthwhile experiment, and the pilot program should run its course. But he said the SFMTA didn’t conduct much outreach ahead of the neckdown’s installation, so he can understand his neighbors’ confusion.
The California Department of Transportation uses the term “neckdown” interchangeably with the more widely used “bulb-out” to describe extended sidewalks that narrow streets to encourage slower driving and shorten pedestrian crossing distances. There are currently three two-way neckdowns in the Presidio, but the one on Kirkham is the first in San Francisco’s jurisdiction. (The Presidio is federal land.)
Deborah, an Inner Sunset resident who stopped to chat with The Standard while walking her dogs, was one of several people who declined to give their last names for fear of conflict with neighbors.
“I find it annoying, but I think it’s important,” Deborah said. She added that drivers frequently run stop signs in the neighborhood, and she’s glad they are being forced to slow down. In her opinion, though, a roundabout at Ninth and Kirkham would be a better solution.
David Bloom, a software engineer who recently moved to the neighborhood, didn’t understand the fuss.
“I thought it was pretty straightforward,” Bloom said. “It’s definitely slowed the traffic.”
However, others are worried about the potential for a head-on collision.
“It could provoke an accident,” Alex, a Daly City resident who collects cans in the area, told The Standard in Spanish.
“That thing makes no sense,” added a neighbor named Mike. “It’s not obvious who has the right of way.”
Some of that confusion may be deliberate — traffic-calming measures are often designed to make drivers uneasy so they slow down and pay attention to what they’re doing. But in this case, it’s not clear whether the neckdown is having the intended effect. While Mike spoke, a car blew through the stop sign at Ninth and Kirkham.
“This is a very agitated intersection,” Mike continued, “and the city has put something even more confusing next to it.”
The Standard observed many cars speeding up to go through the neckdown, presumably out of consideration for oncoming motorists waiting their turn.
“This thing sucks,” a data analyst named Katie said. “I hate it.”