The Great Walkway should be San Francisco’s next great park

The Great Highway is 17 acres of public land that can be San Francisco’s next great waterfront
park. The city already plans to close the Highway south of Sloat beginning in 18 months
(January 2023), and Upper Great Highway was already closed because of sand one month per
year before the Pandemic.

The Great Walkway is now the second-most popular open space in San Francisco, with
more than 144,000 people using it per month. During the pandemic, San Franciscans of all ages
and abilities have been safely using and enjoying the space for walking, green-commuting,
scooting, skating, rolling, connecting, celebrating, protesting, and recreating in ways that were
impossible when cars were allowed in the space.

Opening the Highway to cars — even partially — will prevent safe access to the beach and
eliminate safe space for kids, families, and countless others, while promoting car commuting,
increasing pollution in the neighborhood, accelerating climate change, and limiting our ability to
add amenities that make will this space an even more welcoming and enjoyable public park.

The benefits of maintaining the space for people are many:

1. Safety and accessibility

● Neighbors prefer a full closure: SFCTA’s survey showed a majority (53%) of people in
the neighborhood want a full car closure and full park/promenade.
● San Franciscans overwhelmingly support a promenade: more than 75% of San
Franciscans in SFCTA’s survey supported a promenade configuration.

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 ● Sunset neighborhood streets are safer: Traffic collisions in the Sunset are down 30%
since The Great Walkway was created, according to city data in TransBASE (source).
● People of all ages and abilities are loving the park: Each month, more than 144,000
people stroll and roll along the Great Walkway. This past January saw an even larger
jump in popularity, breaking the record for daily visits three times and setting a record at
11,661 people accessing the space in a single day.
● Accessible recreation for everyone: The park provides flat, level, and smooth access
for recreation and to the waterfront for people who cannot easily access the beach, such
as those in wheelchairs and seniors with mobility issues.

We are losing the highway to climate change already, and need to shift our reliance off of
cars: Cars and trucks are the no. 1 emitter of CO2 in the city by far (source), and cars are also
the no. 1 killer of children ages 2-19 in the United States (source)

2. Economic benefits
● Reopening is prohibitively expensive: Usage as a full-time park saves taxpayers
money. It’s more expensive for SFMTA to operate a partial closure ($500k/year) than to
invest in a park, while closing the highway halfway to traffic is more costly up front (up to
$15M in capital costs). With the highway already closed because of sand over 30% of
days, it’s a losing battle to maintain the road.
● Good for local merchants: Increased foot traffic and visitors to the neighborhood
because of the park are helping local businesses rebound from the pandemic. Data from
Yelp shows that businesses adjacent to people-first spaces benefit from a boost in
interest.

3. A compromise that puts cars on the Great Walkway kills the Walkway
● Cars make the Great Walkway unsafe and unappealing.
● Cars make the Great Walkway inequitable: Putting cars back on the road during the
week excludes many people from using the space, including those who work
non-traditional jobs, children on school vacations, seniors who walk every day, and those
who rely on a safe route for commuting by walking, scooting, or biking, from using the
space safely.
● More expensive: Opening the highway partially increases costs by requiring staff to
rearrange the road configuration and maintain the highway for vehicle traffic.
● No improvements can be made: With a full closure during the pilot, we can add
benches, improve sanitation, add lane markings for safety (fast lanes/slow lanes), and
make further improvements to the space

4 North/South car commute concerns can be addressed while maintaining the

Great Walkway
● Improve Transit. Restore the 18 Bus and extend it to Daly City BART. More people can
choose transit.

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 ● Time the lights on Sunset: Lights were timed years ago - but at too high of a speed.
Time Sunset for steady 25 mph car traffic
● Improve car connections to Sunset Blvd: Improve connections & traffic lights from
Lincoln, Chain of Lakes, and the Park to Sunset Blvd.
● Use signage & other tools to encourage car traffic to use Crossover Dr.

A two year pilot of the Great Walkway is the answer

● Allow SFMTA/Rec Park time to study this 17 acre public park land & its uses during
non-covid times
● Empower SFMTA to make further transit & traffic adaptations
● Inspire the community to explore new, exciting & diverse uses for our public park land:
play spaces, beach wheelchairs, skate rentals, benches, art - more of the goodness we
all cherish in our city.

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Safe for Kids. Safe for Everyone.