San Francisco, California

The Project

The Slow Sanchez mural was part of a larger effort to calm neighborhood vehicle traffic, provide safe travel for active modes, and uplift community identity through art. Murals were painted within the Painted Safety Zone, and were designed to highlight San Francisco culture. The SFMTA worked with community partners Friends of Slow Sanchez and Upper Noe Neighbors to engage the community and identify key safety needs. Once legislated and implemented, Friends of Slow Sanchez and Street Plans collaborated to identify local artists to design and implement a mural at two key intersections along the Sanchez, 29th and Clipper. These intersections have a combination of painted safety zones and traffic calming islands. Painted Safety Zones are painted areas that wrap around the intersection to slow vehicle turns and improve pedestrian visibility.

Integrating this project with a larger traffic calming effort in the neighborhood allowed the team to leverage strong partnerships that played to the strength of each entity – SFMTA was able to lead on the technical striping and geometric design to create a “canvas” for the artists. Artists were able to work quickly to create compelling works for the site without having to get involved in permitting or use materials budget for traffic control or roadway striping elements.

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