Where there was once high-speed traffic on the former Upper Great Highway, kids learned to ride bikes on a new "Bike Play Area and Skills Course" Saturday morning. This was on just one of several new spaces opening up on the as-yet-to-be-officially-named Great Highway/Ocean Beach Park.
"Kids of all ages are loving the new bike play area at Sloat. It's been getting rave reviews from brand new bikers to more experienced ones, and it's bringing families together to enjoy our amazing new park," wrote Lucas Lux, President of Friends of Ocean Beach Park, in an email to Streetsblog. "Just know that once you visit, you can expect your kid to demand multiple return trips–mine definitely has."
Meanwhile, the SF Standard's Garrett Leahy published a piece Monday morning claiming that the "Great Highway closure made Sunset traffic worse, data shows."
To support the headline's claim and lead that a traffic "...nightmare became reality," Leahy cites professionally gathered Streetlight traffic data from peak periods on nearby streets on a single day. "That one day of analysis they use is from Tuesday, March 18–the Tuesday immediately following the closure of the Great Highway," wrote SFMTA's Michael Roccaforte in an email to Streetsblog.
Streetsblog emailed Leahy to request the raw data and to ask why he used only one day of Streetlight data and will update this post. The article also states that the Standard looked at surveillance camera video and counted cars itself on some adjoining streets. That also showed an uptick in car traffic volumes. It seems natural, however, that after a four-lane highway is closed, there would be more cars, certainly in the short term, on nearby streets.
"We’re collecting data from a larger sample window that will account for when traffic settles over the course of this Spring for a public report to be released this Summer," added Roccaforte. "All road changes come with an adjustment period, and we need to allow for that adjustment period to take place to get a clearer picture of what the data is telling us."
The article also frames the conversion of the beachfront roadway into a park as "a closely watched, highly divisive vote."
In reality, a majority of San Francisco voters have now twice affirmed that the Upper Great Highway should no longer be a highway. In 2022, voters turned down Prop. I, a ballot proposition to preserve Great Highway as a roadway, by 65 percent. And then last November the voters re-affirmed converting the Great Highway into a park.
Neither vote was particularly close. "The decision was 55 percent to 45 percent to convert Upper Great Highway into a full-time oceanfront park," wrote Streets Forward's Luke Bornheimer, in an email to Streetsblog. "This is one of the greatest land-use decisions made for our city that has already improved access to our coast and quality of life for San Franciscans."
Friends of Ocean Beach Park are hosting a series of volunteer events to help with painting and other activities to ready the park for its official ribbon cutting and opening celebration. The big bash will be on Saturday, April 12, starting at 11:30 a.m. Even those who voted "no" on Prop. K are invited to join in the festivities.
