Northbound daytime view along the Upper Great Highway under an overcast sky

In the upcoming election this November, San Francisco voters will be able to determine the future of the Upper Great Highway with Proposition K. The Upper Great Highway is a roadway stretching two miles alongside Ocean Beach on the westernmost side of San Francisco from Lincoln Way, near Golden Gate Park, to Sloat Boulevard, near the Zoo. Proposition K is a proposal to use part of the Upper Great Highway as a public open recreation space, permanently closing the road to private motor vehicles seven days a week. Currently, the Upper Great Highway is closed on weekends and public holidays to serve as a public recreation space, yet open on weekdays for private motor vehicles.

Overhead map indicating the section of the Upper Great Highway section affected by Proposition K

The closure of the Upper Great Highway as a car-free promenade first began with the COVID-19 Pandemic. In response to the stay-at-home mandate, the City of San Francisco closed certain streets to private motor vehicles to reserve the streets as additional public open space for recreational purposes. One of the streets subject to this closure included the two miles of the Upper Great Highway. 

The park was a successful recreational space throughout the pandemic, providing families and individuals with another opportunity to enjoy the outdoors while maintaining pandemic restrictions such as social distancing. From April 2020 to October 2022, San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA) recorded 2.8 million total visits to the Upper Great Highway. 

With this pandemic closure rerouting weekend traffic inland, the Great Highways Outer Sunset Traffic Management Project was developed to address any community concerns related to the changing traffic patterns. 

In response to the concerns of speeding and excessive traffic by residents of Outer Sunset and Richmond, SFMTA worked with SF Recreation and Parks Department (RPD) to develop and implement comprehensive traffic calming strategies. This work included collecting traffic speed and volume data, evaluating current safety and traffic conditions, and using traffic management tools like signs. In summer of 2021, after the traffic calming measures had been implemented, SFMTA evaluated the implemented measures, and they proved to be successful in reducing speed and traffic congestion. 

The pandemic restrictions of the Upper Great Highway were replaced by the City with a pilot program in May of 2022. This pilot program closes the Upper Great Highway to private motor vehicles on Friday afternoons, weekends, and holidays and is scheduled to end on December 31st, 2025. This closure however does not apply to emergency vehicles, official government vehicles, or interpark transit shuttle buses. 

Throughout this closure, SFMTA and RPD have been conducting studies on the pilot program for the SF Board of Supervisors, collecting data on the use of the Upper Great Highway as both a roadway and promenade. In the “Great Highway June 2024 Report to the SF Board of Supervisors,” it was reported that the park had 561,700 visits since the program began, “making the Promenade the third most visited park within the RPD system.” Alongside providing information on visitor data, the report also provided information on traffic data including road closures, vehicular travel times, traffic volume, and traffic speeds and pedestrian safety. It was reported that “the roadway has been closed to vehicular traffic an average of 32 times each calendar year during the Pilot data collection period, with closures lasting anywhere from several hours to several days” due to need for sand removal as strong coastal winds push sand onto the Upper Great Highway. In regards to vehicular travel times, it was reported that “the closure of Great Highway currently adds approximately three minutes of vehicular travel time at peak hour weekdays for trips that would typically use the Great Highway and are now diverted to eastern roadways, most likely Sunset.” In regards to traffic volume, it was reported that “side streets beyond the Lower Great Highway are not experiencing significant traffic changes resulting from Upper Great Highway as a promenade.” Overall, the report by SFMTA and RPD was very informative on the impact of the pilot program. 

Due to the wide-spread enjoyment of the Promenade and the apparent success of the pilot program, members of the SF Board of Supervisors proposed an initiative ordinance to amend the Park Code to establish the Upper Great Highway as a full time public recreation space, permanently closing the roadway to private motor vehicles. This initiative ordinance, known as Proposition K, will appear on the ballot this November for San Francisco voters and if passed by voters, the pilot program will remain in place until all necessary approvals are made. 

A vote ‘YES’ on Proposition K means “you want the City to use the Upper Great Highway as public open recreation space, permanently closing it to private motor vehicles seven days a week, with limited exceptions.” This vote has been supported by ‘Yes on K’, a “community-powered campaign for a permanent oceanfront park.”

A vote ‘NO’ on Proposition K means “you do not want the City to make these changes.” This vote has been supported by ‘No On K’, a community group dedicated to “[keeping] the Great Highway open.”

‘Yes on K’ supports the establishment of a new oceanfront park, arguing that it makes the coast more accessible for people to enjoy, it’s good for the environment by reducing automobile pollution from our coastal habitat, it’s good for business by bringing more potential customers to the businesses of the Sunset Districts, and it’s good for the community as it is a popular place for events. 

‘No on K’ opposes the establishment of a new oceanfront park, arguing that the Upper Great Highway is “a local asset that provides convenient travel” especially for West Side commuters on the weekday going to and from work, the new park would be a financial burden on RPD, and there is plenty of open space surrounding the highway that the public can recreationally enjoy. 

Both groups make substantial arguments to appeal to the various voters who this Proposition will affect. The use of the Upper Great Highway has been adapting for the past four years, and the time to make a final decision of its use is almost here. If you are voting in the upcoming local election, now is the best time to get yourself informed! Check out SF.gov for more information on Proposition K.