the Great Highway today, supporting a multi-use pathway. In the early 1900s, as the automobile gained popularity, efforts were made to improve and widen the Great Highway as well as protect it from erosion. City engineer Michael O'Shaughnessy’s Ocean Beach Esplanade was completed in 1928, along with a newly paved Great Highway in 1929. The concrete seawall survives to this day. During the Hot Rod era of the 1950s-60s, the Great Highway was a popular destination for owners of modified cars and others who wished to engage in rolling drag races. In the 1980s, San Francisco converted the highway from eight lanes to four lanes with an underwater stormwater transport box to adhere to the California Coastal Act and Clean Water Act. Due to rising sea levels the southernmost portion of the highway, Great Highway Extension from Sloat Boulevard to California State Route 35, is slated to close to vehicle traffic permanently starting in 2023 as part of the Ocean Beach Climate Change Adaptation Project, to be replaced with a multi-use pathway and seawall protections for city wastewater infrastructure. 2020 closure, reopening, and pilot program In April 2020, the two mile segment (55%) of the Great Highway between Lincoln and Sloat was closed to motorized vehicles, causing some people to refer to the new pedestrian-only segment as the "Great Walkway". City officials claim that the closure attracted an average of 26,400 weekly pedestrian and bike visitors, versus 140,000 vehicles per week passing through when it was open to motorized traffic. One city survey of 4,000 San Francisco residents found 53% of respondents supported making the closure to motor vehicles permanent. A community created petition got over 11,000 signatures to reopen the highway to cars as of August 2021. Prior to the motor vehicle closure, the roadway was closed an average of 27 times a year for sand removal and flooding. In April 2022, the Great Highway was partially or completely closed to motor vehicles for the entire month. In August 2021, three westside San Francisco supervisors and Mayor London Breed announced a new operational plan for the Great Highway. The plan opened the Great Highway to motor vehicle traffic on weekdays, while keeping it as a park on weekends and holidays. This announcement short-circuited a separate and ongoing planning process by the San Francisco County Transportation Authority to plan for the long-term future of the space, causing some protests. In