Ocean Beach Park, by the numbers
3 Million Visits
In the past 4 years
10,000 Visits Per Weekend
Distributed roughly equally between Fridays (2,000 each half day) and Saturday and Sunday (4,000 each full day).
Prop K reserves the Upper Great Highway from Lincoln Way to Sloat Boulevard for use as a public open recreation space and authorizes the SF Recreation and Parks Department to restrict private vehicles to do so.
The Great Highway is already under the jurisdiction of the SF Recreation and Parks Department; Proposition K does not change this.
The Measure
The Plan
If Prop K passes, the Great Highway would be used as a park promenade similar to JFK Promenade in Golden Gate Park, which saw a 36% increase in visitation after being converted from a roadway into a promenade.
Proposition K does not commit the City to any further action. The SF Recreation and Parks Department would manage any parks improvements, just like in all City parks. In the short-term this could include basic amenities like adding seating; similar improvements were managed on JFK Promenade with existing parks funding. Long-term, the Friends of Great Highway Park - an all-volunteer nonprofit in the neighborhood - is advocating for a climate resilient redesign of the park space, which would be subject to a public outreach and capital planning process separate and independent from Proposition K. More on their vision below.
The SF Controller’s Office estimates the measure will save taxpayers $1.5M in capital costs, as well as up to $700k in annual operational costs, by converting the space into a coastal promenade. Capital savings come from not needing to replace aging signal lights on the Great Highway, while operational savings come from reduced frequency of sand clearance possible with a park promenade, as well as reduced operational complexity of managing a dual-purpose park and roadway space.
Prop K Costs
Great Highway, by the numbers
Sand Closures
The Great Highway closes up to 65 days per year due to sand accumulation. On weekdays alone, Rec Park has tracked an average of 32 instances of closure annually during the pilot period, with some instances lasting multiple days.
Clearing the sand daily to keep the Great Highway open to traffic full-time would cost $1.7M each year. Climate change is expected to exacerbate the problem.
Traffic Volume
According to SFMTA measurements:
Great Highway: “for the Great Highway between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard, “average daily traffic…is approximately 38% lower than pre-Covid volumes…”
Lower Great Highway: “Lower Great Highway has less than half the average weekday traffic volumes than prior to the pandemic. Lower Great Highway now experiences weekend volumes that are similar to the pre-pandemic weekday for the roadway.”
Side Streets: “Weekend volumes on side streets other than Lower Great Highway generally remain lower than midweek volumes and vehicle travel times are not significantly different between mid-week and the weekends; side streets beyond the Lower Great Highway are not experiencing significant traffic changes resulting from Upper Great Highway as a promenade.”
Traffic Speed
Traffic calming measures implemented by the SFMTA in conjunction with the pilot promenade have successfully reduced speeding on the Lower Great Highway to below pre-pandemic levels, from an average of 33mph to 26mph..
Trip Times
According to SFMTA data:
For trips relying on the Great Highway: “The closure of Great Highway currently adds approximately three minutes of vehicular travel time at peak hour weekdays…” This is without any traffic improvements.
For trips within the Sunset District: “Vehicle travel times are approximately a minute longer on Lower Great Highway and Lincoln Way on weekends versus weekdays during peak times. Vehicle travel times have minimal variations between mid-week and weekends on other side streets.” In other words, neighborhood trip times are similar when the Great Highway is used as a promenade or roadway.
Traffic Improvements
The Great Highway from Sloat Boulevard to Skyline Boulevard was legislated to permanently close in May, 2024. The SFPUC plans to close the road in 2025.
Supervisors Engardio and Melgar worked with the SFMTA to plan a number of traffic upgrades to address concerns over traffic impacts, including:
Reprogramming the signal light at Great Highway and Lincoln Way. The light only supports one light cycle program, requiring the use of only red flashing lights during weekend park times. By making the park full time, the signal can be reprogrammed to accommodate the inland turn from Great Highway onto Lincoln Way.
Replacing stop signs with signal lights at:
La Playa and Lincoln Way
45th Avenue and Lincoln Way
41st Avenue and Lincoln Way
Great Highway and Skyline Boulevard
Sloat Boulevard and Skyline Boulevard
Removing a stop sign from 46th Avenue and Lincoln Way
The Vision
Friends of Great Highway Park - an all-volunteer nonprofit founded by Outer Sunset residents - worked with CMG Landscape Architecture (started by landscape architects who designed Crissy Field) to imagine opportunities for the future of our coast. They created vision boards and conducted over one year of outreach - involving over 300 community groups and individuals - to hear what needs the community would want a full-time coastal park to serve. The prevailing themes of the outreach were desires for bais park amenities like:
More seating
More bathrooms
Keeping a wide promenade
Places for dogs
Play structures for children
Based on this outreach, CMG Landscape Architecture created renderings of what a potential future park could look like:
California Coastal Commission on Ocean Beach Park
Opponents of a coastal park appealed a Coastal Commission permit allowing the weekend pilot. The Coastal Commission weighed in on the appeal arguments, which align with the arguments made by Proposition K opponents. The Coastal Commission unanimously rejected the arguments and stated:
Regarding a coastal promenade’s effects on the dunes:
“The appeals content that the closure of a portion of the Upper Great Highway during weekends and holidays increases use and foot traffic in that area during that time, thereby leading to impacts (from tampling, litter, etc.) to the coastal dunes…What the appeals do not mention is that…such impacts date back to at least the 1990s, well before the inception of the proposed limited and temporary vehicular closure authorized by this project for a portion of the Great Highway corridor. Such ongoing impacts to the dunes have spurred research and more recent efforts to buck this trend and address the longstanding and ongoing adverse impacts. In fact, the [SF Estuary Institute] report identifies management goals and objectives to protect and enhance the dune system, without suggesting reduced public access as a solution. Instead, the report suggests that a better and more realistic solution for reducing trampling is to create more clearly defined access points to the trails and to increase protections for existing dune habitats as well as new plantings. Put another way, it is not clear that the approved project is the reason for the dune impacts identified. Rather, the dunes at Ocean Beach have been under stress for decades, due to both natural and anthropogenic impacts. While it is true that the dunes could be better cared for in this regard (e.g. restoration and enhancement, closing volunteer trails, rope and pole protection barriers, informational signage, trash/recyling, etc.) that is true regardless of this project. In fact, both the National Parks Service and the City of San Francisco are actively working on measures to better protect and improve these natural areas…””
Regarding traffic claims:
“The appeals contend that the weekend and holiday closure of this portion of the Upper Great Highway to vehicles has, and will continue to, increase traffic and decrease pedestrian safety and available parking in nearby neighborhoods…To be clear, however, there does not appear to be any clear evidence in the record to illustrate that such impacts are actually happening, or would happen if the project continues…
The appeals also raise a number of other contentions, such as asserting that greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and vehicle miles traveled (VMTs) would increase because of the project. However, there does not appear to be any evidence to support these claims (and, in fact, the aforementioned 2022 SFMTA traffic study suggests traffic has actually decreased… ”
Regarding Coastal Access:
“…the [pilot] project provides improved access along the Upper Great Highway for pedestrians, bicyclists, and other non-vehicular users on weekends and holidays…”
Their Conclusion:
“…the [pilot]... appears to enhance public recreational access to and along the Great Highway and Ocean Beach. ”