The Great Highway from Lincoln Way to Sloat Boulevard was closed to car traffic in April 2020 to allow for safe, socially-distanced recreation under a mayoral emergency order.

In August, 2021 the City adjusted the emergency order to open the promenade only on weekends, from Fridays at noon until Mondays at 6am. 

In November, 2022, 65% of San Francisco voters rejected a ballot proposition (Proposition I) that called for full-time use of the Great Highway for private vehicles.

In December, 2022 the Board of Supervisors legislated a formal pilot instructing the SF Recreation and Parks Department to use the Great Highway as a weekend promenade until December 31, 2025. This legislation included an obligation for the SFMTA and SF Recreation and Parks Department to study the pilot impacts and report on long-term recommendations.

Of course. If you’re looking to enjoy ocean views from your car, the measure does not impact the Great Highway north of Lincoln Way, with an over 400-car parking lot stretching from Fulton to Lincoln and additional free parking with iconic views on the hill towards Sutro Baths. The Great Highway from Lincoln to Sloat offers nowhere to stop, park, or turn, severely limiting its use for coastal access and recreational opportunities today. As a park, everyone arriving by car will be able to access the coastline via the nine paved ADA-accessible routes already maintained by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department. Parking is available along two miles of the Lower Great Highway, less than 50 feet from the new park, and includes recently-added ADA-designated parking spaces at Judah and Taraval Streets. 

There are several traffic improvement plans to smooth the drive for north-south commuters who previously used the Great Highway. These include new signal lights on Lincoln, which will replace stop signs and streamline the route from Great Highway to Sunset Boulevard, and additional signals at Sloat and Skyline, and other locations.

The closure of the southern end of the Great Highway means your drive is changing with or without this measure. It’s already an unreliable route for commuters: sand accumulation causes unscheduled closures of the Great Highway up to 65 days per year, depending on winds. Traffic on the Great Highway is already down 40% compared to pre-pandemic levels.

San Francisco County Transportation Authority studies determined that Sunset and Lincoln have more than enough capacity to move everyone without backups..

The City is already making traffic and roadway improvements in conjunction with the closure of the southern end of the Great Highway. Supervisors Engardio and Melgar have proposed additional traffic mitigations alongside this measure to ensure smooth traffic flow for commuters, ensuring everyone’s needs are met

The city department responsible for sand clearance on the Great Highway has estimated that, due to increased sand accumulation driven by climate change, it needs $1.7M per year just to keep the Great Highway passable for daily car traffic. Rather than spend that money clearing piles of sand, this measure would invest that money in traffic signals and intersection improvements to get everyone where they need to go more efficiently.

Maintaining the existing roadway will cost a lot. The existing deteriorated traffic lights require replacement, and the intersection at Sloat and Great Highway must be reconfigured to accommodate the Great Highway closure south of Sloat. The San Francisco County Transportation Authority’s study estimated $5M in capital costs and an additional $1.7M yearly in sand clearance costs to keep the current roadway open to car traffic. Not only is the sand clearing costly, it is getting worse with climate change, and requires heavy machinery that has significant ecological impact.

Rather than spend millions clearing piles of sand with no end in sight, the planned traffic improvements would make commuters’ lives easier by providing a smooth connection to Sunset Boulevard. Creating a permanent park is also an opportunity to rehabilitate the long-neglected dunes. Removal of invasive ice plant and planting of native plant species will help reduce sand dune migration - work that is easier to undertake adjacent to a park compared to a roadway. 

With respect to park infrastructure improvements, short-term improvements like adding seating are inexpensive, but are only possible with a full time park configuration. Long-term improvements will benefit from public-private partnerships, similar to other transformational parks projects in San Francisco like Crissy Field.

According to the city’s studies, the vast majority of the traffic on the Great Highway is cut-through traffic headed to/from the South Bay. The alternative route on Sunset Boulevard will offer the fastest north-south route across town, and will keep traffic off of small neighborhood streets. These studies also confirm that six-lane Sunset Boulevard has more than enough capacity to smoothly move commuters without a reduction in average vehicle speeds. Extensive SFMTA data collection has demonstrated that traffic volumes on nearby streets such as Lower Great Highway remain below pre-pandemic levels.

The highly-visited Great Highway park pilot is set to expire next year, requiring the city to make a decision whether to keep what is now our third-most visited park. With the portion of the Great Highway south of Sloat already set to close to vehicle traffic due to coastal erosion, traffic patterns will need to change with or without this measure, and we need to make adjustments to our streets and intersections now to accommodate that. This measure is a win-win that allows us to create the park and provide smooth drives for north-south commuters at the same time.

Using the space as a part time roadway for traffic  makes it impossible to provide even the most basic park amenities that San Franciscans expect in our parks, such as public seating or play space for kids. The pilot has demonstrated people’s desire to recreate by the coast, but a part-time park configuration is an approach that serves nobody; drivers would still need to turn inland at Sloat, the road would still close unpredictably and routinely due to sand accumulation, and everyone would miss out on the world-class coastal park San Franciscans deserve.

The city studied this configuration and determined that it is the most expensive of all options at nearly $23M in initial capital costs alone. And for the most money, both park users and drivers get the least. Park goers would hear cars, not waves, and would have to keep kids and dogs close at hand. Drivers would have only one lane in each direction - no different than all the parallel streets - and a constant  stream of pedestrian crossings. And all of this would come at a high price tag. Our resources are better spent on traffic improvements for north-south commuters and on other citywide priorities. It doesn’t make sense to spend so much on a road to nowhere when commuters driving in and out of the city on the West Side will need to turn inland anyway.

There are no impacts to the Great Highway north of Lincoln. Everyone can continue to drive between the Richmond and Sunset districts the same ways they always have, including crossing Golden Gate Park on the Great Highway.