By Peter Belden
In April 2020, JFK Drive in Golden Gate Park was temporarily closed to cars and turned into a promenade for people walking, biking, or rolling. The JFK promenade is wildly popular: over 72% of San Franciscans surveyed support making it permanent. It's been visited over 7 million times since it was closed to cars, a 36% increase over pre-pandemic visitation.
Pre-pandemic, JFK Drive was among the 13% of roadways throughout San Francisco that were part of the Vision Zero High Injury Network. Collectively, these streets contributed to 75% of crashes involving cars. By closing this 1.5 mile stretch of the road to vehicles, the formerly high-injury street has become a popular new park attraction, and a safe route for essential travel via non-vehicle modes. Most significantly it has become a vibrant and accessible community gathering space.
After nearly two years of public process, many accessibility changes have been made, including an improved free shuttle and improvements in accessible parking. The San Francisco Board of Supervisors will be voting on whether to make JFK Drive permanently car-free soon, so please send your message in support of keeping JFK Drive car-free and urge for continued accessibility, equity, and transit improvements to all venues/events.
Photo credit: Sierra Club activists Alexandra and Charles Wirth (with son Bennett and their dog Rockwell) join hundreds of others to celebrate and enjoy the safety and serenity of car-free JFK Drive. Photo provided by Olga Mandrussow.