Golden Gate Park closed more of its roads to cars on Friday, creating an East-West pathway running all the way from the Panhandle to Ocean Beach.
Portions of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, Transverse Drive and Middle Drive will be closed to motorists to open up more space for people looking to get outside, recreate or travel by micromobility. It will also create safer pathways for people pushing strollers or using wheelchairs.
“Golden Gate Park is a park, and we want people to think of it that way, not as a freeway,” Recreation and Parks General Manager Phil Ginsburg said at the opening of the newly car-free roadway Friday.
Executed in partnership with the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Authority, the closures meet the broader network of Slow Streets that ultimately aim to connect Ocean Beach to the Ferry Building.
“During COVID, it is more important than ever that families have safe places to be able to exercise outdoors, where they don’t have to be afraid of cars and where they have plenty of room in order to remain socially distant […],” SFMTA Executive Director Jeffrey Tumlin said.