SF Dept. of Environment: Great Hwy. Project Moves Forward

Over the past decade, winter storms have battered the bluffs along Ocean Beach, causing serious erosion along a 3,000-foot section that stretches from Sloat Boulevard to Fort Funston. Since 1997, the City's Department of Public Works (DPW), in coordination and consultation with regulatory agencies and the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), a unit of the National Park System, has implemented a number of temporary emergency measures to protect the Great Highway and city-owned wastewater facilities while long-term solutions to the erosion problems are sought.

Many different agencies are involved in studying and managing resources in the area, making the decision process complex. In addition, there is controversy over whether hard structures (such as seawalls or banks of large rocks) are better or worse than "softer" approaches (such as periodic replacement of sand barriers) or letting nature retake some man-made structures, including parking or roadway surfaces.

The California Department of Boating and Waterways and the California Resources Agency recently granted more than $1 million to DPW to continue the evaluation of alternative long-term solutions, in partnership with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Alternatives to be considered include approaches such as "no action" or "managed retreat," as well as other approaches, including the construction of an off-shore reef or breakwater and both hard and soft structures on-shore. DPW, in cooperation with the Department of the Environment, USACE and GGNRA, encourages public involvement in the Ocean Beach alternatives identification and evaluation process. 

For more information or to obtain project fact sheets, go to: www.sfoceanbeach.org or call Frank Filice, DPW's manager of capital planning, at (415) 558-4011.