Take the T-Line: Street Light Rail/Urban Design Improvements Project

By BMS Design Group ?EUR??,,????'???? Editor, Stephen Kelly

Unique streetscape elements and public art define the three distinct neighborhoods along the San Francisco corridor. In Visitacion Valley, the scale of the unusually wide street was reduced by a planted median (Phormium tenax and Lantana ?EUR??,,????'??spreading sunset?EUR??,,????'???) and pedestrian crossing refuges. Statuesque fan palms, Washingtonia hybrids (W. filifera X W. robusta), line the way.

San Francisco has a long history of transit service within its compact 49 square miles. Historically, trolleys carried passengers along many major routes, such as Market Street and 19th Avenue, however, over time bus service dominated. In recent years, highly successful commuter light rail projects have made inroads?EUR??,,????'??+the Embarcadero lines (E-line) and the importation of historic trolleys from around the world to run on the F-Line in the mid-1990s.

The T-Third Light Rail Line project is San Francisco ?EUR??,,????'??s newest light rail endeavor. Its 5.2-mile line extends south from the Caltrain Station at 4th and King (one block from the AT&T Ballpark) along the eastern city edge to the south city/county limits near Brisbane and Candlestick Park. The project was in the funding and planning stages by MUNI (San Francisco Municipal Railway) for 20 years. The project was originally envisioned as a simple rail line with minimal stations and platforms, like those on Market Street today. However, parallel work on plans for the revitalization of the Bayview Hunters Point neighborhood, a chronically neglected area in the southeast corner of the city, suggested that a more significant investment in the line would benefit the neighborhoods all along its 5.2 mile length.

Located at the historic center of train travel in San Francisco at the north end of the line, the Mission Bay Station platform has a pole-mounted stainless steel sculpture of the spokes of a train wheel and metal train tracks on top of the platform canopy.
Photo: Nan Park, Peretti & Park Pictures

Replace and Revitalize

The most fundamental goal of the project was to implement an efficient and attractive commuter rail line to replace a major bus route. Operations of the system as affected by station locations and configurations were critical. The additional key element for the T-Line was to leverage this major transportation infrastructure investment to improve the public environment and stimulate economic development along the corridor.

MUNI map of the 5.2-mile T-Third Line.

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The Team

The project design began in 1997 with selection of a design team from BMS Design Group an urban design, planning, landscape architecture firm. The BMS team, led by Barbara Maloney, an urban designer, handled all nonengineering, above-grade components: lighting, trackway paving, site furnishings, signage, platform/shelter design and landscaping. Architects, cost estimating, graphic design and engineering work by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (MUNI) rounded out the multidisciplinary team.

The rail bed is the most constant element of the T-Line. The ?EUR??,,????'??rhythm of the rails?EUR??,,????'?? is expressed in alternating bands of red and black concrete that vary in width. Raised white bars are used in a multitude of patterns to add interest at certain locations and control bicycles and motor vehicles.
Photo: Kathryn Gritt, BMS Design Group

The San Francisco Arts Commission also selected a team of 10 artists to participate in the project. Rather than have the art designed and sited independent at the end of the planning and design, the artists were brought in early on to give their input. As a result of this collaboration, several artists became involved in developing concepts for the corridor as well as for individual sites.

The station lighting is diversified. The platform lighting (left) is via 150w metal halides (?EUR??,,????'??Campo?EUR??,,????'?? by Hess) and canopy spotlighting by Bega. The custom arcing ?EUR??,,????'??swoosh?EUR??,,????'?? (aluminum powder coated) atop the streetlight poles (Union Metal) had to accommodate the overhead electrical catenary cable for the trains, as required by the San Francisco Municipal Railway. The lighting at the end of the swoosh arms are metal halide lamps (250W Pulsestart), housed in Lumec lamps (Renaissance ?EUR??,,????'??Teardrop?EUR??,,????'?? RN-20).

Design Effort

The design effort lasted about a year and included three community workshops and nine neighborhood workshops, beginning with discussions initiated during the revitalization studies of Bayview Hunters Point. The first phase of work was an urban design study of the entire 5.2 mile corridor intended to determine potential design influences and to identify ways the system could be modified, based on the areas through which it passed.

Full service for the T-Line began in April 2007. The new system provides improved transportation linkages between several existing neighborhoods, new development areas (including the Mission Bay project and new UCSF campus) and the central area of the city.

Milestones were reviewed with a technical advisory committee (TAC) that included MUNI operations, maintenance, accessible services and service planning, DPW, DPT, PUC Bureau of Light Heat and Power, Planning Department and San Francisco County Transportation Authority representatives. Ongoing review was conducted with a design subgroup of the TAC that included representatives from MUNI, DPW (Bureau of Architecture and Bureau of Engineering-Landscaping), San Francisco Redevelopment Agency, the Planning Department, Art Commission, and other agencies at various times. During the course of this effort, several interim documents were Prepared?EUR??,,????'??+the ?EUR??,,????'??Urban Design Analysis?EUR??,,????'?? (June 1998) and the ?EUR??,,????'??Design Guidelines Memorandum?EUR??,,????'?? (July 1998).

In the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood, in response to neighborhood interest in ?EUR??,,????'??Afro-centric?EUR??,,????'?? design, the broom-finished concrete features tri-color brick (Denver Brick Co.) patterns derived from West African ?EUR??,,????'??Bogalon?EUR??,,????'?? fabric patterns. The edges are 4?EUR??,,????'??x8?EUR??,,????'?? pavers in onyx (dark brown); designs are made with 4?EUR??,,????'??x4?EUR??,,????'?? and 8?EUR??,,????'??x8?EUR??,,????'?? pavers in desert rose (beige) and genessee (medium brown). The tree grates (Urban Accessories) are 4?EUR??,,????'??? Chinook custom grey iron, cast in two pieces. The young trees are Callery pear (Pyrus calleryana).
Photo: Kathryn Gritt, BMS Design Group

Special Factors

Full service for the T-Line began in April 2007. The new system provides improved transportation linkages between several existing neighborhoods, new development areas (including the Mission Bay project and new UCSF campus) and the central area of the city. The urban design improvements help create a unique image and identity for this area of the city. There are plans to eventually extend the line across Market Street, past Union Square, into Chinatown.

A custom-designed streetlight also provides a unifying theme along the entire 5.2 mile corridor. The mast arm, aka the ?EUR??,,????'??swoosh,?EUR??,,????'?? arcs gently over the street. The apple green horizontal plane of the swoosh recalls the truncated oval of the station signage while the perforations provide an additional play of light, night and day.
Photo: Kathryn Gritt, BMS Design Group

Two key concepts from the early design phase influenced the project?EUR??,,????'???s final design. Since the light rail line passes through several existing and new neighborhoods, a key concept was to strengthen neighborhood identity through design, while also providing a unified image for the entire line as a part of the citywide MUNI system. This was accomplished by employing two strategies:

• ?EUR??,,????'??Great Street/Main Street?EUR??,,????'???EUR??,,????'??+The design provides a unified image of the transit corridor as part of one of the ?EUR??,,????'??Great Streets?EUR??,,????'?? of San Francisco, with certain elements designed to provide a continuous design expression. These elements include the trackway paving pattern, new custom street lighting and corridor-wide street trees. In addition, the design emphasizes special ?EUR??,,????'??Main Street?EUR??,,????'?? areas of neighborhoods with unique plantings, additional accent lighting, art improvements and unique station design elements that refer to the history or special character of each neighborhood.
• ?EUR??,,????'??Episodic?EUR??,,????'???EUR??,,????'??+The episodic nature of rail travel is expressed in the black-and-red design of the trackway which evokes the ?EUR??,,????'??rhythm of the rails?EUR??,,????'?? and the special features that occur at each of the transit stops.

The station canopy roof profile recalls the slope of historic industrial architecture that remains as a legacy in the area with both standard 3:12 roofs and clerestory lights. Station signage is designed to be highly legible to transit patrons while conveying a contemporary image that is unique to the T-Third line.
Photo: Kathryn Gritt, BMS Design Group

Design Elements: Unifying Elements

Consistent elements found throughout the length of the 5.2 miles of the T-Line aid in the legibility of the system and bring a sense of continuity to the diverse corridor. These elements include:

• Trackway paving
• Station elements (including crosswalks, ticketing, shelters, windscreens, signage)
• Southern Terminal layout and design
• Power Supply Substation Buildings.
• Street Lighting
• Color

Four primary elements were designed to provide a unifying image to the overall line: the trackway paving, the stations and their elements, and the street lighting, and the use of vivid color.
Photo: Kathryn Gritt, BMS Design Group

Unique Elements

In response to the individual characters and conditions found along the corridor?EUR??,,????'???s length, several elements vary by neighborhood. These include:

• Planting
• Art enhancements
• Special additional streetscape elements (widened sidewalks, tree plantings and street furniture) in Bayview Hunters Point.

The station windscreens (steel frame, apple green powdercoat) are designed to minimize impacts on platform circulation, while also providing adequate protection for platform seating. The clear glass panels provide transparency for security and locations for public information and neighborhood school art programs. The design in the concrete (bottom right) is a bronze inlay of tree shapes.
Photo: Kathryn Gritt, BMS Design Group

The U.C. San Francisco Mission Bay Station (near the U.C. campus) features tall poles with helixes of metal panels in Fibonacci spirals above the canopies. All elements were fabricated of Type 316 stainless steel and powder-coated. The artists were Bill and Mary Buchen (Sonic Architecture), with structural engineering by Paul Endres, Endres-Ware and fabrication by Eastern Sheet Metal. The signage is porcelain enamel.

The station marquee pole (steel, powdercoated) identify the station location within the surrounding neighborhood and serves as a primary structural element of the canopy. A beacon at the top (?EUR??,,????'??Lighthouse?EUR??,,????'?? 100W incandescent by Lightform) flashes to announce an oncoming train. The marquee is also a primary location for public art elements, which vary to reflect the unique character of each neighborhood.
Photo: Kathryn Gritt, BMS Design Group

Project: T-Third Light Rail Line Urban Design