Photo: Jack Persons, Friends of Sunset Dunes.
Once a four-lane highway threatened by flooding, Sunset Dunes Park now welcomes visitors who fancy recreation along the Pacific coast.
Many of us have had a chance to enjoy the elevated park in New York City known as the High Line. Once it was a highway. Now I’m learning about a similar conversion in California.
There’s an interesting story about it at the environmental radio show Living on Earth,
Jenni Doering
“The four-lane Great Highway used to run along the Pacific Ocean on the west side of San Francisco. But in April 2025, this pavement became a little slice of paradise. Now visitors to Sunset Dunes Park can bike, walk, skate, and play next to the water. Zach Lipton is a volunteer with the nonprofit Friends of Sunset Dunes and he joins us now to talk about this highway’s transformation. … For someone who’s maybe never been to San Francisco or to Sunset Dunes Park … what is it like?
Zach Lipton
“Sunset Dunes is a 50 acre park at the edge of San Francisco along the Pacific coast. It used to be a four lane highway and has been converted into a recreational space for people to walk and bike and sit by the ocean, have a bite to eat and just enjoy our Pacific coast. So we brought in eleven local artists to paint murals. … The city has installed benches made out of logs that have fallen in recent storms from the park … a bike park and a skate area. … And of course, just the Pacific Ocean View is the star of the show. …
“[There’s a sculpture] called Spinning Rock. It’s a 20,000 pound rock that is on a spinner. And just the look of delight when kids and adults, when everyone realizes you can just push this rock and start spinning it around. It’s a lot of fun. We have a giant octopus the kids love to climb on, some giraffes down by the zoo. [The park] is a perfectly flat space, which is great for people, especially riding bikes. I know folks who have come out, learned to ride a bike there during the pandemic as an adult, using Sunset Dunes. …
Doering
“Going from a four lane roadway to a coastal park, how exactly did we get here?
Lipton
“So let’s go back all the way to just give you the long version of the history. The entire western side of San Francisco originally was just sand dunes, and in the 1800s some folks started creating a coastal path back when a road really was a recreational facility. This was a place to go ride your horse along the ocean. In time, that road was paved, but it always, for over a century, has been part of the city’s Recreation and Parks Department, even though gradually, it kept shifting from a recreational use to really just transportation. … Then during the pandemic, there was a huge need in San Francisco for socially distanced outdoor recreation, and the city converted a couple of streets to recreational facilities, including what was the Great Highway. …
“Ultimately, we ran a campaign, a ballot measure last November for the city to vote on its future. 55% of the city voted that they wanted it to be a full time park. And then we worked quickly with the city, with the California Coastal Commission, to make that vision a reality and start its transformation. …
“The park sells itself more than we can ever explain its benefits to people. And this is something where if a few years ago, you said, ‘y”Yeah, let’s turn the Great Highway into a park,’ people would look at you like you were crazy. But having tried it during the pandemic, and having just had the chance for people to experience it, all of a sudden, it makes a lot more sense. And I think there’s a spirit of experimentation there that cities can embrace, whether it’s this or other environmental efforts, that it’s okay to just try things and see how they go.”
Can you think of other pandemic experiments that have lasted? I’m going to be thinking about that.
More at LOE, here. No firewall.
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