Road closure miscommunication with Waymo spoils San Francisco's July 4

In the hour leading up to the Fourth of July fireworks show off the Golden Gate Bridge on Saturday, the sky turned violet in the fog. Tens of thousands of people hurried through the Presidio, where snarled roadways transformed one of San Francisco’s signature parks into a parking lot.

Traffic on Girard Road reached a standstill, and a line of cars were illegally parked in the bicycle lane. The short road connects an off-ramp for Highway 101 with a roundabout in the Presidio. First, movement there trickled, and then everything came to a halt around 8:30 p.m. The backup began to bleed deeper onto the highway. The root of the traffic jam was that Lincoln Boulevard roundabout, which had become clogged with Waymos. Several autonomous vehicles became stuck in the circle as a constant stream of pedestrians passed by on their way to the waterfront. 

An officer with park police directed traffic away from the roundabout as the holiday horde placed much of the Presidio in a state of disarray. After congestion cleared early Sunday morning, some Waymo vehicles required a tow after running out of battery.

For many of the estimated 100,000 people who descended on the northwest corner of the city to celebrate the country’s semiquincentennial, the spectacle wasn’t in the sky but on the streets. Since the fireworks show was mostly shrouded in fog, attention now turns to what the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency described as “unprecedented crowds & traffic in SF” in a social media post early Sunday morning.

In response to the major disruptions, the mayor’s office, Presidio Trust and Waymo said they have started evaluating how to better plan for the next large-scale event in San Francisco. 

Mayor Daniel Lurie announced the fireworks show June 15. Over the next 20 days, through July 4, the public learned of extensive road closures in multiple neighborhoods, including Halleck Street in the Presidio. That road connects Crissy Field with the Main Post area and is located near the roundabout.

Waymo coordinated with the city and Presidio Trust in advance of the holiday, and the company installed an employee at the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management during the event.

However, notice of the Presidio road closures appears to have missed Waymo. A spokesperson for Waymo confirmed to SFGATE that the company was not informed of any road closures and that this impeded its response to traffic congestion.

The information also wasn’t easy for the public to source.

Neither the mayor’s office nor SFMTA noted that Halleck Street would close in their public notices about the event. A post from the Presidio Trust, updated on July 2, did announce the road closure. 

The mayor’s office quarterbacked the event. Charles Lutvak, spokesperson for the mayor, did not respond directly to questions about the city’s preparedness and coordination with Waymo. Instead, he wrote that public safety was their top priority and thanked first responders, transit operators and others for their part in putting on the event. 

“We understand that with more than 100,000 people in the area, some people experienced delays getting home, and we will have conversations with our public and private partners to ensure the experience is smoother next time,” Lutvak wrote in a statement to SFGATE.

Lisa Petrie, spokesperson for the Presidio Trust, explained that the park established drop-off zones for Waymo and other ride-hailing companies to smooth the influx of traffic. 

“We will continue to evaluate best operational practices for autonomous vehicle companies during large scale events to ensure that traffic flow is as safe and efficient as possible,” she wrote in an email.

On Sunday, Lurie visited the Marina District to promote small businesses that benefited from the crowds the day before. In a video, he speaks with a representative of Lobalita, which just opened on Chestnut Street in the former Tipsy Pig location. “You told me it was wild down here,” Lurie said.