(a) Findings and Purpose. In 2022, following the temporary closure of the Great Highway between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard (hereafter, the “Upper Great Highway”) due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and on recommendation of the Recreation and Park Commission and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (“SFMTA”) Board of Directors, the Board of Supervisors found that it would be appropriate to restrict private vehicles from the four-lane limited-access Upper Great Highway at certain times, as described herein, due to the need to ensure the safety and protection of persons who are to use those streets; and because the restrictions would leave a sufficient portion of the streets in the surrounding area for other public uses including vehicular, pedestrian, and bicycle traffic.
(b) Restrictions on Private Vehicles. The Recreation and Park Department shall restrict private vehicles from the Upper Great Highway from Fridays at 12:00 p.m. until Monday mornings at 6:00 a.m., and on holidays, as set forth herein. These closures shall remain in effect until December 31, 2025, unless extended by ordinance. The temporary closure of the Upper Great Highway due to the COVID-19 pandemic from April 2020 until the commencement of the pilot project is hereby ratified.
(c) Public Notice and Engagement.
(1) The Recreation and Park Department shall include on its website a map depicting the street segments subject to the street closures and traffic restrictions authorized in subsection (b), and such other information as it may deem appropriate to assist the public; and shall provide advance notice of any changes to these street closures or traffic restrictions to residents and owners of property abutting those streets.
(2) The Recreation and Park Department and SFMTA shall collect and publicly report data on pedestrian and cyclist usage and vehicular traffic on the Upper Great Highway and surrounding streets at regular intervals throughout the duration of the pilot program established in this Section 6.13.
(3) SFMTA shall develop and release draft recommendations for traffic management no later than July 31, 2023. The draft recommendations shall build upon past traffic management measures and past traffic studies, and shall be updated during the pilot program based on data monitoring, traffic conditions, and community outreach. SFMTA shall also develop final recommendations which may propose traffic management measures for after the pilot period, with a description of potential improvements to the surrounding circulation system, cost estimates, and an implementation schedule for accommodating any future vehicular traffic restrictions that may be in the public interest.
(4) The Recreation and Park Department, in coordination with SFMTA, shall engage in community outreach during the pilot period to gain public input on the effectiveness of the pilot program and inform the development of the Westside Traffic Management Plan.
(5) Public Works or its successor agency shall develop an Upper Great Highway Sand Management Plan by no later than March 1, 2023. This plan shall detail how Public Works will manage and maintain an Upper Great Highway free of sand incursions, along with any resource or policy changes needed to accomplish this.
(d) Exempt Motor Vehicles. The following motor vehicles are exempt from the restrictions in subsection (b):
(1) Emergency vehicles, including but not limited to police and fire vehicles.
(2) Official City, State, or federal vehicles, or any other authorized vehicle, being used to perform official City, State, or federal business pertaining to the Upper Great Highway or any property or facility therein, including but not limited to public transit vehicles, vehicles of the Recreation and Park Department, and construction vehicles authorized by the Recreation and Park Department.
(3) Authorized intra-park transit shuttle buses, paratransit vans, or similar authorized vehicles used to transport persons along the Upper Great Highway.
(4) Vehicles authorized by the Recreation and Park Department in connection with permitted events and activities.
(e) Emergency Authority. The General Manager of the Recreation and Park Department shall have the authority to allow vehicular traffic on segments of the Upper Great Highway that would otherwise be closed to vehicles in accordance with this Section 6.13
in circumstances which in the General Manager’s judgment constitute an emergency such that the benefit to the public from the vehicular street closure is outweighed by the traffic burden or public safety hazard created by the emergency circumstances.
(f) Promotion of the General Welfare. In enacting and implementing this Section 6.13
, the City is assuming an undertaking only to promote the general welfare. It is not assuming, nor is it imposing on its officers and employees, an obligation for breach of which it is liable in money damages to any person who claims that such breach proximately caused injury.
(g) Severability. If any subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this Section 6.13
or any application thereof to any person or circumstance, is held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions or applications of Section 6.13
. The Board of Supervisors hereby declares it would have passed this Section and each and every subsection, sentence, clause, phrase, and word not declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any other portions of Section 6.13
or application thereof would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
(h) Sunset Clause. This Section 6.13
, and the temporary closures of the Upper Great Highway authorized herein, shall expire by operation of law on December 31, 2025, unless extended by ordinance. If not extended by ordinance, upon expiration the City Attorney is authorized to remove this Section 6.13
from the Code.
(Added by Ord. 258-22, File No. 220875, App. 12/22/2022, Eff. 1/22/2023)
(Former Sec. 6.13 added by Ord. 98-07, File No. 070269, App. 5/4/2007; Ord. 271-07, File No. 070489, App. 11/26/2007; repealed by Ord. 74-22, File No. 220261, App. 5/7/2022, Eff. 6/7/2022)