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Golden Gate Park’s JFK Drive Now Car-Free Forever

Major improvements include 20 new ADA parking spaces, expanded free shuttle, free ADA parking for museums and more
By - posted 4/27/2022 No Comment

On April 26, 2022 the San Francisco Board of Supervisors approved Mayor Breed’s legislation to ensure John F. Kennedy Drive in Golden Gate Park remain vehicle-free permanently. See the map of car-free JFK Drive.

The legislation, co-sponsored by Supervisors Matt Haney, Rafael Mandelman, and Dean Preston, greenlights more than 40 improvements to make the park easier to access for seniors, the disability community, and those who live further away.

Read the full press release

JFK Drive was closed two years ago to provide socially distant recreation during the pandemic and since become a place for San Franciscans of all ages and abilities to socialize, exercise and travel in the fresh air. The ordinance also strengthens park access for people with disabilities and older adults through new and expanded transportation programs, additional parking, and new drop-off and pick-up areas.

Where is the car-free route?

The car-free route runs from Stanyan Street at the east end of the park to Ocean Beach and the Great Highway at the west end. The east end of the route includes portions of JFK Drive and Conservatory Drive; the west end of the route includes Overlook Drive, Middle Drive and portions of MLK Drive. View the ADA Parking Map.

Is the route completely car-free?

No, there are spots along the route that intersect with regular park traffic or share the road with vehicles:

A portion of the route on Transverse Drive, between JFK Drive and Overlook Drive
A portion of the Metson/Middle Drive/MLK Drive loop near the south end of the Polo Field
The intersection at MLK Drive and Chain of Lakes Drive/41st Avenue
A portion of MLK Drive near Lincoln Way
The section of Nancy Pelosi Drive before JFK Drive
Authorized vehicles, including park maintenance vehicles, park ranger vehicles, and other city department vehicles, will also be using the roads along the route.

New Golden Gate Park Cafe-Free Improvements

The Golden Gate Park Access and Safety Program includes a number of initiatives to improve safety, equity, accessibility and mobility along JFK, including, but not limited to:

  • 20 new, free blue zone spaces in the parking lot behind the Music Concourse Bandshell, for a total of 96 blue spaces in the park’s east end. The Music Concourse Bandshell lot will put visitors closer to museum entrances than before the road closure. The lot, which broke ground Feb 28, will include curb ramps and accessible pathways.
  • Flexible pricing in the Music Concourse Garage.
  • Adding free three-hour parking in the garage for those who use free museum passes like Museums for All and Discover & Go.
  • Free parking will also be reserved for museum visitors with ADA placards.
  • Removal of restrictions on vehicle access to the Music Concourse through the Garage, which can be accessed directly by 10th Avenue to allow easy drop-off and pick-up of visitors in front of the museums and expanding the free 15-minute loading time to 30 minutes for loading zones in the Music Concourse garage.
  • Improvements to  the free Park Shuttle, adding new weekday service, more frequent weekend service, and an expanded route that connects with Muni on Haight Street and stops at Stow Lake. More improvements are planned, including low-floor vehicles, improved comfort at shuttle stops, and working with navigation providers like Google Map to add shuttle route information to their platforms.
  • Continued muni buses and paratransit service on JFK, with improved service for the 29 Sunset and the return of the 21 Hayes lines.
  • A delineated, signed route for deliveries to the de Young Museum’s loading dock support their programming.
  • New roadway delineations to separate faster moving bikes from slower shared street spaces.
  • New roadway configuration to ease traffic congestion on Chain of Lake Drive to Sunset Boulevard.

The plan, which was subject of rigorous technical analysis from SFMTA traffic engineers, is designed to make it easier to get to and around Golden Gate Park no matter how visitors choose to travel. Many of the improvements are the direct result of feedback gathered during the unprecedented community outreach conducted by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department and San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (SFMTA), which engaged more than 10,000 San Franciscans.

Although a robust study involving millions of data points showed visitorship by neighborhood to Golden Gate Park did not meaningfully change during the closure, many of the policy interventions focus on connecting communities that traditionally don’t have access to Golden Gate Park.

 

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Rec and Park will continue to offer culturally relevant programming with events and artists that reflect San Francisco’s diverse communities. It will expand programs like the Community Shuttle and Junior Guides, which provide free transportation, lunch and guided tours for groups from southeastern neighborhoods. Meanwhile, SFMTA is making improvements that directly connect equity priority communities to Golden Gate Park, including launching the 29-Sunset Improvement Project this spring, and restoring 21-Hayes service to Stanyan Street this summer.

The park will retain more than 5,000 parking spaces, or 83 percent of the spaces before the closure. It also retains 80 percent of roadways for driving.