San Francisco is in the midst of a years-long debate over how many cars should reign on its streets. The pandemic accelerated changes, including slow streets that require drivers to share sidewalks and the closure of two iconic streets.
One closure, JFK Drive in eastern Golden Gate Park, was anchored by a 2022 ballot measure. It has become a paradise for hikers, cyclists, roller skaters, dancers and art lovers.
With the recent vote for Prop K, the second closure is now permanent. More than a mile of the Great Highway along Ocean Beach will become a car-free park. The first phase of the transformation is scheduled to begin early this year.
But the vote has divided the city geographically. It won 55 to 45 percent, but a majority of west side residents opposed the permanent closure. Some have launched a campaign to remember their supervisor, Joel Engardio, who represents the Sunset District and co-authored Prop K.
“It's going to be a political football, and it's going to be divisive until we get serious about solving the problem,” said Sup. Connie Chan, who represents the Richmond district on the west side and opposed Prop. K. District 1 voters elected Chan to a second term with 52 percent of the vote.
The city's roads and transportation authority, SFMTA, is aware of the problems. Work is underway to fix them and ease congestion in and around the western end of Golden Gate Park, which could otherwise get worse once the Great Highway is finally closed. (As of 2021, the road – especially the Upper Great Highway – is only closed on weekends.)
However, whether SFMTA is making the right changes and moving quickly enough is controversial. And one test of his work will be Chain of Lakes Drive, a short road that runs through the western end of Golden Gate Park and connects Chan's neighborhood with the Sunset District.
Although there is a much wider north-south street with fewer stops just seven blocks west, drivers continue to risk the Chain of Lakes bottleneck to move between Richmond and Sunset.
One of the biggest complaints from Chan and other critics of Prop K is that permanently closing the Great Highway would push even more cars onto Chain of Lakes and other neighborhood streets. The SFMTA's plan is to route traffic around Golden Gate Park rather than through it.
The closure of JFK Drive (now the Promenade), once a major artery for drivers traveling from one part of town to another, has changed the feel of Golden Gate Park. The road repairs around the Great Highway are the next litmus test in an ongoing citywide shift to help drivers navigate a less car-centric world.
Why not walk around?
To travel the Chain of Lakes' half-mile, cars encounter five stops: a traffic light at Fulton Street at the northern end and then a four-way stop at JFK Drive halfway. Soon there are three stop signs in a row: at a crosswalk in front of the park's empty horse stables, at Martin Luther King Jr. Drive where cyclists and pedestrians intersect, and finally another four-way stop at Lincoln Way to enter the park leave.
On weekends, especially on this southern end, traffic slows down in Chain of Lakes. (At least the newly restored Middle Lake offers a nice view along the way.)
The problem is that there are few direct options for driving between the west side of Richmond and Sunset counties. The Park Presidio Bypass, which flows into 19th Avenue, is frequently congested. Then there is Chain of Lakes, which flows into 43rd Avenue to the north and 41st Avenue to the south. To the far west is the portion of the Great Highway that will remain open to cars, where the park meets Ocean Beach.
SFMTA focuses on this latter diversion, which is a handful of blocks. Lucas Lux, head of the Yes on K campaign, says that despite the extra mileage, he finds this far-western route more efficient than Chain of Lakes and that he would like it to be even faster.
“This is the way we can improve and streamline the riding experience,” Lux said. “There's only so much you can do to penetrate the Chain of Lakes park.”
SFMTA is currently installing new traffic signals at two locations — Lincoln Way and 41st, where Chain of Lakes is being built, and Lincoln and the Great Highway — that Lux hopes will make his preferred route through the park easier. Later, additional signals replacing stop signs along this stretch of Lincoln, funded by $36 million in new grants, are expected to help even more.
It remains to be seen whether the Lincoln signals will distract drivers from Chain of Lakes and ease congestion in the park. Sup. Engardio pointed out that this was not enough and called for changes along the Chain of Lakes itself. But none of this is included in SFMTA or Rec and Park's immediate plans.
In particular, Engardio wants a signal at MLK Jr. and Chain of Lakes, where cars encounter a lot of bike and pedestrian traffic. A traffic light there could be coordinated with the signal that was just a few feet away at 41st and Lincoln Streets.
“These have to be signaled so that you don’t have so much support,” said Engardio The Fresh. “That’s the crux of the matter and that’s what we’re concentrating on. I think it is important that we take traffic reduction measures beforehand [the Upper Great Highway] closes.”
Engardio's office later clarified that while the light was still the supervisor's wish, it was more of a wait-and-see scenario. Meanwhile, less complicated solutions could include a pedestrian flashing light, a raised crosswalk or a roundabout.
The extension effect
No matter what voters said about Prop K, big changes were coming to the Great Highway and surrounding roads. The 1-mile-long Great Highway Extension, the southernmost portion of the road that runs along the ocean from Sloat to Skyline Boulevards, is crumbling due to rising sea levels.
The city has been planning for more than a decade to close the park to traffic and create a buffer to protect a wastewater plant and the SF Zoo, both just inland. Drivers using the extension to get to and from Daly City will be rerouted starting this year. The diversion requires a number of changes, including speed limits on residential streets and new traffic signals.
According to a 2021 study by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority, closing the extension would reduce traffic on the Upper Great Highway by up to 25 percent but increase traffic on Chain of Lakes.
The 2021 study also found that two-thirds of pre-pandemic trips on the Upper Great Highway were from Richmond counties to San Mateo and Santa Clara.
Ahead of last year's Prop K vote, the SFMTA released an analysis of potential impacts. One of the results: Closing the Great Highway during weekday rush hours due to blown sand increased car travel time by about three minutes. (Earlier this year, SF Public Press spoke with two outside transportation data analysts who criticized some aspects of the SFMTA data.)
You can design and conceive anything you want if the reality is not feasible.
Sup. Connie Chan
SFMTA says it will conduct another study at an undisclosed date to guide improvements to intersections around the northern entrance to the soon-to-be-closed Great Highway. Prop K has not received funding, but a $1 million state grant approved in November will go toward community participation in a future park design.
“SFMTA is committed to continued multimodal improvements in the western neighborhoods as the closure of the Great Highway changes the way neighbors move around their community,” agency spokesman Michael Roccaforte wrote via email.
Sup. Chan wants more studies before The Great Highway will be closed to prove that the planned changes will lead to improvement. Until then, she says, Outer Richmond drivers like her will likely continue to drive through the park.
“You can design and conceive anything you want if the reality doesn’t pan out,” Chan said The Fresh. “I want a study that tells me specifically that these designs will help us reduce traffic congestion in the area.”
Engardio took a different approach, noting that it is difficult to know in advance how everything will turn out. After the final closure, the SFMTA will likely continue to make adjustments, he says. “I hear loud and clear that Sunset residents’ biggest concern is traffic and pedestrian safety,” Engardio told The Frisc. “This will be an evolving process.”