Context Matters! Emergency Vehicle Travel Times and Streetscape Projects in San Francisco

Abstract

The San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) and San Francisco Fire Department (SFFD) partnered to investigate relationships among various SFMTA streetscape changes and deviations in SFFD emergency vehicle operations to understand to what extent, if any, SFMTA streetscape changes are associated with slower SFFD emergency vehicle travel times and speeds. What are the relationships, and what are their implications for practice? The project team used two analysis approaches to study this question. The first approach applied inferential statistics to evaluate the relationship between individual streetscape changes and emergency vehicle travel times; the second used the difference-in-differences method to determine the relationship between corridor-level streetscape projects and emergency vehicle speeds. The study rejected the idea that all streetscape changes adversely affected emergency vehicle operations but did demonstrate that some streetscape changes in some contexts at certain times (specifically, traditional speed humps and lane reductions on highly congested corridors) were associated with slower emergency vehicle speeds and travel times. In other words, context matters! The study also suggested a need for collaboration and knowledge-sharing between SFMTA and SFFD to develop policy approaches that minimize adverse impacts while balancing their respective needs and goals.