san francisco highway

San Francisco Plans to Reroute Highway to Accommodate Rising Shoreline

san francisco highway

CURATED BY KRISTIN KOWNACKY

Whether you believe in global warming or not, one thing cannot be denied; California’s shoreline is rising and something must be done to deal with it. A new proactive plan that would call for the closing of one end of San Francisco’s Great Highway, reroute traffic about a half-mile inland, and let the ocean come back has been proposed. The plan would cut down on building structures that adversely affect the beach, but it isn’t cheap. Estimates for completing all the recommendations are just over $350 million.

FROM GRIST

When you live on a coastline, looking down the barrel of imminent and unstoppable rising sea levels, sometimes “managed retreat” is your only option. What if we rerouted the highways before they ever flooded?

That’s the thinking behind San Francisco’s Master Plan for the city’s western shoreline. This retreat is not just managed, but proactive.KQED reports on the “test case” that other coastal cities will be watching: a more than $350 million plan to move the Great Highway and allow the surf to reclaim its turf.

“A lot of the things we’re recommending at Ocean Beach are very expensive,” says Benjamin Grant, who manages the Ocean Beach Master Plan for the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR). “But you have to set them against the costs of the band-aid measures already taking place”…Continue Reading on Grist

 

kristin kowlackyABOUT THE CURATOR

Kristin Kownacky is a junior at Flagler College in St. Augustine, Florida, where she is currently working towards a BA in journalism and international studies. It is her dream to travel the world, discovering hidden treasures and writing about each experience. Read her articles on her personal blog, Depart We Now.

 

 

Photo by Joshua Singh

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