San Francisco's streets are known for their hilly, twisting drives, but none so much as the famous Lombard Street. The street, lined with bright roses and hydrangeas on either side of it, offers great views of the city and an authentic experience of driving in San Francisco. In fact, residents say that because of all the tourists the street sees, it's starting to feel more like an overcrowded amusement park than an actual street. For the last four to five years, cars have been lining up and piling up down several blocks in the Russian Hill neighborhood just to drive down the 600ft. long street.
Initially, the street was not really intended to be a tourist attraction. The steep hairpin turns were created in 1922, because the street used to be at an angle of 27 degrees, which was extremely difficult to climb for automobiles of the era.
According to Fox News, city transit leaders are considering possible solutions, including charging a toll, requiring reservations, adding more parking-control officers and encouraging visitors to reach the single-lane street on foot or by cable car. During peak months, the street can see up to 6,000 visitors everyday. There's no doubt that the street significantly boosts San Francisco's tourism industry, which saw a spike in visitors from 18 million in 2010 to 24 million in 2015.
However, besides the increasing traffic in the street, other negative effects included unruly behavior from tourists who litter, pick flowers, urinate on doorways and houses, and disregard signs. In fact, some more criminal activity such as car break-ins, robberies, and incidents trespassing and harassment of residents just to get a better picture have also increased along with the increase in visitors.
Sophie Arnoux, a visitor from Southern France had this to say about Lombard Street: "It's one of the most beautiful streets in the world. It's a must-see, like Champs Elysees." When asked if she would like to live along the street, she says, 'No way! It's a beautiful place, but there are too many people and lots of cars. It would be annoying to live here.'"
This article is copyrighted by Travelers Today, the travel news leader
