Frequently Asked Questions

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

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

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

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.

In June 2024, five San Francisco Board of Supervisors members submitted a ballot measure asking voters to approve turning a 2-mile stretch of San Francisco’s Great Highway into an oceanfront park. 

Yes. If you want to enjoy ocean views from your car, the measure does not impact the Great Highway north of Lincoln Way, which has 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 can access the coastline via existing paved ADA-accessible routes 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. 

The southern end of the Great Highway is closing permanently due to coastal erosion, so drivers will have to reroute inland the same distance whether this measure wins or loses. If this measure wins, drivers would turn inland one street earlier - at Lincoln instead of Sloat. 

The SFMTA has studied the pilot park's impact and reported that traffic on the Great Highway and all nearby streets remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels. The most impacted trip would be from the Outer Richmond to south of San Francisco, which may take three more minutes during rush hour.

The SFMTA’s study assumes present road conditions. Since the southern portion of the Great Highway is permanently closing, traffic improvements will be needed to adapt to the new inland route regardless of whether this measure wins or loses. Supervisors Engardio and Melgar are already working with the SFMTA to implement improvements on Lincoln and Sloat to improve traffic flow.

By improving Lincoln instead of Sloat, San Franciscans can have both an oceanfront park and an improved inland car commute.

City agencies need to be able to adapt to changing traffic patterns, which they would be unable to do if prescriptive requirements were included in a ballot measure.

The measure does not impose any costs on taxpayers; it even saves money! The ballot measure only converts the roadway into a park promenade, which would enable low-cost improvements like adding seating and artwork. The Recreation and Parks Department already manages the Great Highway using its general funds, and it would continue to do so. Converting a roadway into a park promenade is extremely low-cost, as demonstrated by JFK Promenade, which saw a 36% increase in visitorship without any new Recreation and Parks Department funding.

In contrast, maintaining the existing roadway costs a lot. we currently spend $1.7M yearly, according to the San Francisco County Transportation Authority’s study, in sand clearance costs to keep the current roadway open to car traffic. The City Controller’s office analyzed the measure: YES on K will provide $1.5 million in taxpayer savings plus $350,000-$700,000 in savings every year! How? We won’t need to spend $4.3 million replacing the rusted and failing traffic lights that are at the end of their useful life, and we’ll save $350K-$700K annually in roadway maintenance and sand removal costs with the measure since all four lanes would not need to be kept clear at all times. 

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 and reliable north-south connection via Sunset Boulevard. Instead of spending $4.3 million just to replace aged traffic lights, the city plans to devote some of that money to fund these improvements for commuters, and taxpayers will save the rest.

In the long term, a dune restoration project is needed whether or not the measure wins. Removing private vehicles from the space offers more flexibility to adapt to climate change demands. However, any future park design or capital improvement project would be subject to a separate public process by the Recreation & Park Department for the community to design the park, just like all new parks in San Francisco. We expect that process would benefit from public-private partnerships, similar to other transformational park projects like Crissy Field.

The MTA studied this and reported that “side streets “are not experiencing significant traffic changes resulting from Upper Great Highway as a promenade.” In fact, traffic on all nearby streets remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels. For example, traffic on the adjacent Lower Great Highway remains at half of pre-pandemic levels on weekdays, and traffic on the Great Highway itself is down nearly 40% relative to pre-pandemic.

You can read the full report here.

Up to 65 days each year. And that is expected to get worse with climate change.

Because our oceanfront is a special place, and this election gives the most San Franciscans a chance to have a voice on how that oceanfront is used.

The permanent closure of the southern end of Great Highway, along with the pending expiration of the Great Highway Park pilot, create a pivotal time for us to act. Commute patterns have to shift either way, and if we act now, we can create a world-class oceanfront park without adding any distance to westside commutes in and out of the city.

Yes. The pilot of Great Highway Park has provided years of real-time data on how people use the promenade, the Great Highway as a roadway, and adjacent streets. Additionally, a number of studies have considered long-term options for the space. The studies include:

The SFMTA and Rec & Park report on the pilot, which identifies the pilot Great Highway Park as the city’s third most visited park, with 10,000 people visiting each weekend. It also details how traffic in nearby streets remains significantly below pre-pandemic levels, even when the promenade is in place.

CTA Great Highway Concepts Evaluation Report covers the costs and benefits of different long-term arrangements. This report also included significant community engagement, identifying majority community support for a full-time park.

The California Coastal Commission also studied the Great Highway's usage as a park when assessing and ultimately rejecting appeals to end the park pilot. You can read the full report here.

The highly-visited Great Highway park pilot is set to expire next year, requiring the city to decide whether to keep what is now our third-most visited park. With the southern part of the Great Highway already set to close to vehicle traffic due to coastal erosion, its usefulness is significantly reduced, as drivers need to divert the same distance inland either way.

Traffic patterns will need to change with or without this measure, and we need to adjust to accommodate that. This measure is a win-win that allows us to create the park and plan ahead to improve north-south commutes simultaneously.

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 the same distance at Sloat, the Great Highway would still close unpredictably up to 65 days each year 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. The park would be less safe for kids and dogs, and all parkgoers would hear cars rather than waves. Drivers would have only one lane in each direction - no different than all the parallel streets - and a constant stream of pedestrian crossings. Spending so much on a road to nowhere doesn't make sense when commuters driving in and out of the city on the West Side will need to turn inland anyway. Our resources are better spent on a solution that actually addresses the concerns of both sides: providing drivers with a more comparable commuting option in and out of the city and giving everyone a world-class oceanfront park.

The Great Highway north of Lincoln, which connects the Richmond and Sunset neighborhoods, will not be impacted. Everyone can continue to drive between the Richmond and Sunset districts the same way they always have, including crossing Golden Gate Park on the Great Highway.

First responders always have full access to respond to any emergencies, just like every other city park. The city's Department of Emergency Management has confirmed that "The Upper Great Highway is not a designated evacuation route and closing it to private vehicles will not change our existing emergency response protocols."