An insider’s guide to driving the streets of San Francisco

The city’s downtown is divided by Market Street, essentially San Francisco’s main street, which runs from the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero to the Castro, passing near Union Square along the way. The areas north of Market Street make up some of San Francisco’s oldest neighborhoods, so the streets tend to be smaller and denser. Everything south of Market, referred to as SoMa, is on its own grid with wider streets and longer blocks. Many of the streets in SoMa are also numbered — but don’t mistake them for the numbered avenues in the western part of the city.

If this sounds confusing, don’t fret. We’ve got all the San Francisco street smarts you need, from the fastest roads to the steepest hills to the streets that somehow always seem to be lined with traffic.

San Francisco’s fastest streets for getting across the city

Geary Boulevard

This major east-to-west thoroughfare connects the Inner Richmond and Outer Richmond districts with the downtown area. Private vehicles get a speed boost on Geary Boulevard because of its dedicated bus lanes that allow public transportation to move quickly through the city, reducing congestion. However, due to the fact that it’s such a well-known street, you can still expect traffic on Geary during the busiest driving times of day.

Pine Street

If you’re driving in downtown San Francisco and want to head west, one-way Pine Street has three lanes during rush hour, thanks to street parking that gets repurposed as tow-away zones during commute hours. The combination of this and timed traffic lights make Pine a zippy, yet hilly, alternative to Geary.

Lombard Street

It’s simultaneously the most congested street in San Francisco and one of the fastest. That’s because just one block of Lombard Street makes up its famous crooked portion. The rest of Lombard, especially farther west, helps drivers move quickly through the city’s northern neighborhoods. Take Lombard Street to connect with U.S. Route 101, the highway that runs north tosouth through the city and is often the ticket into or out of San Francisco. 

Broadway

If you’re looking for the quickest way to travel between anywhere west of Van Ness Avenue and North Beach, take Broadway, which will route you into a tunnel that goes through the hills. This route may be speedy, but it’s not as scenic as going over Russian Hill.

Franklin Street and Gough Street

One block west of traffic-heavy Van Ness is Franklin Street, which runs one way, northbound. With two lanes and timed lights, it’s often the fastest way to travel north to Lombard Street to access U.S. Route 101 toward Marin County and other destinations north of the city. 

Running one way in the opposite direction, parallel to Franklin, Gough Street is your best bet when traveling south from Lombard, the Marina or the Cow Hollow neighborhood toward Hayes Valley, the Mission District and other points south, like the San Francisco International Airport. (In case you still have doubts, my recommendation comes from commuting on this street for almost 10 years.)

Larkin Street and Hyde Street

One block east of Van Ness, Larkin Street runs north through the Tenderloin, Nob Hill and Russian Hill neighborhoods and is a less trafficked and surprisingly fast street thanks to its multiple lanes. (And because it seems people often forget about this more residential thoroughfare.) If you’re on your way to Fisherman’s Wharf, the crooked portion of Lombard Street or any of the eastern neighborhoods, take Larkin instead of Polk Street, which sees more pedestrians and cars trying to park, or Van Ness, the main commuter thoroughfare.

Starting at California Street, Hyde becomes a one-way street running south, making it a fairly quick way to travel from Nob Hill to Market Street and onto 8th Street, another rather speedy passage through SoMa.

Dolores Street and Folsom Street

If you’re trying to get quickly through the Mission, Folsom Street, to the east, and Dolores Street, to the west, often have less traffic than the smaller and more bustling streets between them.

Interstate 280

Interstate 280 runs parallel to U.S. Route 101, which is the main artery through the heart of San Francisco. I-280 begins in San Francisco at the King Street exit and runs south to San Jose. It’s a six-lane divided highway that offers a more scenic and less congested route when compared to 101. It was my observation through many years of commuting to the South Bay that it can be a helpful route to take when you’re traveling to cities south of San Francisco. Always check local traffic first, but it could be a quicker route to or from San Francisco International Airport under certain conditions.

San Francisco streets to avoid unless you love traffic jams

Though it’s San Francisco’s main thoroughfare running north-south, Van Ness Avenue is notorious for congestion.

Unless you’re going there specifically to sight-see, definitely don’t try to take Lombard Street all the way to its end. The crooked portion between Hyde and Leavenworth is the most congested block in the city, as it’s one of San Francisco’s most famous attractions.

Interstate 80, as it connects with the exits for U.S. Route 101 and the Bay Bridge, almost always has traffic in both directions due to multiple freeways converging at this point. If you’re headed to the East Bay from SoMa or the Mission, sometimes it’s faster to take a parallel side street, like Bryant Street, to catch one of the last exits for the bridge, such as at 5th Street or just after 2nd Street.

San Francisco’s most famous streets

Though it’s neither the most crooked, nor the steepest, Lombard Street likely gets the award for San Francisco’s most famous street. Its hairpin turns and celebrity status draws around 2 million visitors each year. But it’s far from SF’s only notable street. Haight Street, in the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood, is known as the epicenter of the hippie counterculture of the 1960s, while California’s famous State Route 1 also travels through the western part of the city and along Ocean Beach, where it’s called the Great Highway. It affords amazing coastal views, but is closed to cars from noon on Fridays through Monday mornings at 6 a.m.

Street names with a storied past

The names of streets in San Francisco tend to offer a glimpse into San Francisco’s storied and often violent beginnings. Maiden Lane and the nearby Fella Place, for instance, recall the area’s history as SF’s original red-light district, while other major corridors, like Van Ness, are named after early city leaders. Efforts are ongoing to change the names of streets that honor people whose values don’t reflect those of an inclusive community. San Francisco is also home to some wacky street names, such as Lois Lane and Waldo Alley.

The steepest streets in San Francisco 

Though it gets only a fraction of the attention heaped on others, the actual steepest street in San Francisco is Bradford Street, specifically the portion just above Tompkins Avenue, in Bernal Heights. The honor had previously been given to Filbert Street, which gained notoriety when David Letterman released 100 watermelons down the block on an episode of his late-night show.

While Bradford Street has the steepest grade, there are several other steep streets in San Francisco with roller coaster-like peaks and valleys.

This story was edited by Hearst Newspapers Managing Editor Kristina Moy; you can contact her at kristina.moy@hearst.com.