Board of Supervisors Votes to Approve Car-Free Street in Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, CA, 2022

San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to make John F. Kennedy (JFK) Drive in Golden Gate Park car-free. Golden Gate Park is San Francisco’s largest park, where JFK Drive has long served as a thoroughfare for car traffic. Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, different street segments in Golden Gate Park and the adjacent Great Highway have been temporarily car-free to expand recreational space and improve street safety. With this ordinance, an approximately one-and-a-half-mile segment of JFK Drive is now permanently car-free.

The effort to make JFK Drive car-free is part of a more extensive Golden Gate Park Access and Safety Program. This program proposes adopting various measures at Golden Gate Park, including the expansion of micromobility, improvements to a fare-free shuttle, and upgrades to ADA parking. The COVID-19 pandemic has led cities to test solutions that improve conditions for pedestrians, bicyclists, and transit and shared mobility users. Hopefully, communities will permanently adopt certain efforts and measures like a car-free JFK Drive as the pandemic becomes more manageable.

Last updated June 8, 2022