Upper Great Highway Promenade

The Upper Great Highway Promenade serves as a two-mile stretch of car-free space along the edge of the Pacific Ocean. While it is now a destination for walking and cycling, it was originally built in 1929 as a grand commuter artery designed to showcase the city's ability to tame the surrounding sand dunes and tides. Engineers constructed this wide roadway as part of a massive municipal effort to connect the far western edge of San Francisco to the rest of the city. For decades, it served primarily as a high-speed route, though nature frequently reclaimed the pavement, forcing closures whenever sand dunes drifted onto the road or storm surges overwhelmed the seawall.