The streets of San Francisco are scheduled to reopen 120 days after the Mayor of London lifts the COVID-19 emergency statement, which may be issued next month
For Vanessa Gregson, the four-lane highway surrounding the beach on San Francisco’s Pacific coast is now a car-free shelter where she can happily bike and enjoy the tranquillity. “You listen to the sound of the beach. You hear the sound of the waves,” Gregson said. “You feel like you are in nature, you are in San Francisco.” Just as the cities from Paris to New York closed the roads for motorists during the coronavirus attack, San Francisco, which does not harm the environment, also closed miles of streets to prohibit.
Cars pass so that people can exercise and socialize safely. Pedestrian advocates now want to bar access to some of San Francisco’s most famous streets, such as the main road leading to Golden Gate Park. Others flinched, saying that they need to drive to work, pick up their children, and then move. This debate was characterized by mourning gatherings and raucous discussions about safety and climate change in this densely populated city.
On social media, customers threatened to boycott a bakery, and the owner expressed support for the reopening of the main coastal passage known as the auto highway; others came to defend him. San Francisco Board of Supervisors Chairman Shamann Walton was ridiculed for closing the Golden Gate Park’s John F. Kennedy Drive on a par with Jim Crow South, even those the same goes for African Americans who think his segregation accusations are stupid.
Walton said he is concerned that street closures and free parking will affect low-income families who cannot easily ride bicycles or cars to the park. For Tim Boyle, who lives near the four-lane highway on the waterfront, life is not peaceful. Unable to use the main highway, huge delivery trucks, motorcycle gangs, and impatient drivers are now rushing through the neighbourhood where he was once drowsy. Boyle’s son has cerebral palsy. He said that getting out of his wheelchair-equipped van has become a nightmare.
“Basically, I would park on any given day, with 4 to 10 cars reversing on each side, so I can park my car in my driveway,” he said. After the mayor declared a state of emergency, 4,444 San Francisco officials began turning the street into a pedestrian walkway in April 2020. Authorities have closed more than 45 miles of community corridors and are studying which may be permanent. They also blocked a 1.5-mile stretch of Kennedy Avenue, the main highway that runs through Golden Gate Park, with more than 24 million visitors each year, and a 2-mile-long highway; some people now call it the Great Highway Sidewalk.
The streets of San Francisco are scheduled to reopen 120 days after the Mayor of London lifts the COVID-19 emergency statement, which may be issued next month. Before deciding whether to reopen the Great Highway and JFK Drive completely, partially open them or close them to vehicles, a number of agencies are engaged in public debate.
City Park spokesperson Tamara Aparton said that the supervisory board will have the final decision. Honolulu Star-Advertiser Receive the latest news via email by clicking submits, you agree to the Star-Advertiser terms of service and privacy policy.
In Europe, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, announced plans to ban most vehicles in the city center, with the exception of public transport, delivery trucks and residents. Pedestrian advocates stated that there are multiple options to ensure that people who cannot easily bike or walk can visit Golden Gate Park, including designated drop-off spots and plans for low-income families. They also hope to take more measures to calm the streets to slow traffic and improve road safety in affected communities.
San Francisco is no stranger to abandoning automobile infrastructure for green spaces. After the Embarcadero highway was damaged in the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989, leaders chose not to replace it and replaced it with a boulevard that is now a popular tourist destination. Despite the heated debate, most people may be in a quiet environment, wanting both open spaces and clear traffic routes. Connie Chan said her area is affected by the closure of beaches and Golden Gate Park. “They just want to be able to go where they need to go instead of being stuck in traffic,” he said. Katharine Lusk, co-director of Boston University Urban Initiatives, said that more than 90% of 130 US mayors in 38 states surveyed last summer reported that they created more space for outdoor dining by using parking spaces or closing streets.
Nearly half of the streets were closed to traffic; a small part of the streets were completely closed to traffic. Although only 6% said they plan to make these changes permanent, Lusk wants to know if this will change as demand increases. On a recent sunny work day, dozens of people organized by Walking San Francisco celebrated the first anniversary of the street closures in Golden Gate Park. Charles Oppenheimer said his 11-year-old daughter Olivia was once afraid to walk through America’s third-most-visited urban park.
“There was a car parked in the park. An angry driver crossed the park and honked at the children. Now it is closed, much better,” he said. Near the western end of Golden Gate Park, earlier this month, more than 100 people gathered in front of the roadblock, waving signs calling for the road to be reopened. When a musician played a tune on a bright pink Susa tube, a passing driver honked his horn to show his support.
The highway has two lanes in one direction, one side is the beach and the Pacific Ocean, and the other side is a covered walkway, both sides are full of succulents. There are houses on one side of a two-lane parallel street, and many houses are marked with the slogan “Open the Great Highway”. Since the neighbouring streets began to absorb the displaced traffic, Judi Gorski has recorded multiple crashes. Smoke, speeding, noise, and car accidents made her feel trapped in her 40-year-old home, and she said “there was a traffic jam all night”.
For photographer Steve Rhodes, walking on the almost empty highway after visiting the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park for a day, having space to move is a kind of liberation. “Interaction with a car is just a nightmare,” he said. “There should be more closed streets, and this must happen because people will have to reduce their dependence on cars.”