Level of service: the politics of reconfiguring urban streets in San Francisco, CA

Intersection level of service (LOS) is a traffic engineering concept which measures how streets handle automobile traffic. It is widely used in transportation planning as an indicator of delay at intersections. The use of LOS is often criticized for its bias towards automobiles at the expense of bicycling, transit, and walking, and it complicates smart growth or compact development. In San Francisco, California, there is a political movement to eliminate the use of LOS in planning. But this movement has met significant obstacles and debate. In this paper I explore how the debate in San Francisco is unfolding and suggest implications for broader efforts to reconfigure urban streets and urban space in the United States and globally.

► How conventional traffic engineering complicates planning for sustainable transportation. ► Proposals to reform conventional traffic engineering. ► How reforming traffic engineering is political, and reflects broader struggles over urban space.