(SAN FRANCISCO, CA.) – Here is what the residents of San Francisco think about The Great Highway.
The Great Highway is a roadway along the Coast, located in the Outer Sunset neighborhood of San Francisco, running along Ocean Beach. The controversy surrounds the upper part of the Great Highway in particular.
(Photo Credit: SFMTA Website)
During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the upper Great Highway was closed to vehicles to provide a recreational space where people could spend time outside to social-distance. This park is referred to as Sunset Dunes.
In 2022, the upper Great Highway became open to vehicles on weekdays, and closed to vehicles on weekends. According to SFMTA (San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency), the highway would close to traffic on Fridays at 12pm, and reopen to traffic on Mondays at 6am during the holidays.
(Photo Credit: SFMTA Website)
In 2024, voters passed a legislation known as Proposition K, which permanently closed the upper portion of the Great Highway in favor of Sunset Dunes.
Recently, Supervisor Alan Wong supported the reopening of the Great Highway on weekdays, but the issue did not make it onto the ballot due to a lack of signatures; they were one signature short.
In essence, some people think that it should stay closed, some think that it should open back up, and others believe that there should be a compromise where it is opened on some days and closed on others. This is the big debate.
A resident on Nextdoor brought this subject to the attention of OpGov.News and also provided his own opinion that this controversy reflects the Culture Wars taking place across America, not just San Francisco.
(Photo Credit: Nextdoor)
Generally, people who support the permanent closure of the Great Highway wish to keep the Sunset Dunes park intact, and argue that reopening it would not favor residents as much as the park.
They also argue that reopening the Great Highway would be bad for the environment. A park within the region without cars lessens environmental pollutants and allows the area to recover from past erosion.
People who want to reopen it to cars believe that it would lessen traffic congestion within the area. People who argue that the Great Highway should be open to cars on some days and closed on others suggest that this would be a reliable compromise.
OpGov.News decided to reach out to residents of San Francisco via Nextdoor to see what they think.
(Photo Credit: Nextdoor)
Unfortunately, the post was flagged as spam, so it was removed. The above screenshot was taken before the post was completely deleted from the app.
In total, 387 residents answered the poll.
According to the data collected, the majority of residents who chose to participate in this poll favored the reopening of the upper Great Highway. Currently, the local government has yet to implement this, but supervisors such as Alan Won, Connie Chan, and Chyanne Chen have tried to revisit the issue.
To add to or correct any information in this article, please contact me at Brianna.r@lead4earth.org
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