Editor:

Outside Lands recently filled western Golden Gate Park again for a glorious and somewhat disruptive weekend. This huge event among other things limits car travel through the park – and eventually bike and pedestrian access – before, during and immediately after the concert.

The good news: Outside Lands inadvertently provided three demonstrations of protected bikeways.

V3 (Not pictured) MLK Drive closed to cars.

 

If Golden Gate Park’s roads become more bike and pedestrian friendly, fewer visitors will drive or be dropped off by Uber and Lyft. The park and the whole of the Richmond and Sunset districts will benefit from decreased vehicle traffic. The Golden Gate Park shuttle runs from the east to the west end of Golden Gate Park and Muni stops close to Ocean Beach and the Zoo as well.

The Great Highway/Skyline Drive bike route will be more attractive to biking tourists and recreation riders. The whole area would be more welcoming for people walking, rolling on wheelchairs, our elderly neighbors, people with dogs, shoppers and people with toddlers and strollers. We might see more families biking with children and more beginning cyclists venturing forth, along with other people who may bike elsewhere but have been habitual car users for this part of town.

Many people may remember three summers ago when cyclist Heather Miller was killed by a speeding car on JFK Drive at 30th Avenue. Any of these protected bike lanes would prevent such a tragedy. Why not explore this further, SF Recreation and Parks and SFMTA?