Prop K changes to San Francisco's Great Highway could hamper disaster evacuations
While Thursday morning's tsunami warning was quickly canceled along the coast, for many it was a good drill to see what they would do if a major disaster was to happen.
It raised red flags for some residents in the Sunset District as a section of the Great Highway is set to close early next year due to the passage of Prop K.
Steve Hill has lived in San Francisco for roughly 30 years. His home is on one of the roads that will be impacted the most by the closure of the Great Highway.
"I'm on Lincoln Way. So Lincoln Way is going to be very clogged and there's a children's park there," Hill said. "It's really not a safe alternative way to take all the traffic."
Those against Prop K cited traffic as one of the major factors in opposing the measure. Something that becomes more of a concern during a natural disaster when there are limited ways in and out of the Sunset.
"It's not just the tsunami, but a whole number of things could happen where this is a really good road for getting north-south," Hill said.
Leara Dean drives her son to the athletic fields at Golden Gate Park for practice every week. She can see both sides of how converting the highway into a park would impact residents and drivers.
"I think it's a beautiful place to come walking and ride your bike," Dean said. "I also think the city only has so many thoroughfares and this happens to be one."
District 4 Supervisor Joel Engardio supported Prop K and is now facing a recall attempt. He says with any park, emergency access roads will be put in place, mainly for use by police and fire.
But some residents like Steve Hill say bottom line, it's going to be tougher for those that live here to get out in case of an emergency.
"The irony is they've taken a park and they turned it into a highway, because that's where all the cars go now to get to where they need to go," he said. "And they're trying to take a highway and turn it into the park. It doesn't make any sense."
