Where rubber meets road, the city foots the bill.<\/p>\n
The proposed \u201cGreat Highway for Everyone Act<\/a>,\u201d which seeks to reopen the stretch of the Great Highway to weekday car traffic some two years after 2024\u2019s Proposition K turned the road into Sunset Dunes Park, could cost nearly $14 million to implement, according to the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency and the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department.<\/p>\n An estimated breakdown of costs initially surfaced from a public records request, and was shared with Mission Local by pro-park organizer Lucas Lux. Those numbers have since been revised, and a combined figure of $13.95 million has been confirmed by Mission Local.<\/p>\n Creating the park has so far cost at least $1.2 million in public and nonprofit funds \u2014\u00a0far less than the cost of traffic infrastructure that would otherwise have to be maintained. That figure includes some $700,000 from Rec and Parks for signage and amenities, and $500,000 in nonprofit funds that were directed toward public art and other installations.<\/p>\n Much of the financial burden for reopening the park to private car traffic would come from the road\u2019s restoration. An estimated $13.2 million would be shouldered by SFMTA to replace and restore traffic signals that are \u201cpast their useful life,\u201d according to Michael Roccaforte, a spokesperson for the agency. Had the road not closed to cars in 2024, the cost of signal restoration would have been similar, Roccaforte added.<\/p>\n SFMTA\u2019s estimate is based on an anticipated $12 million to restore signals at various intersections along the stretch. An additional $1.2 million would go toward replacing a traffic signal at Lincoln Boulevard, currently the park\u2019s northern edge.<\/p>\n The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department estimates that it will cost an additional $750,000 to remove the park\u2019s amenities and convert it back into a road suitable for private car traffic, Tamara Barak Aparton, a Rec and Parks spokesperson, confirmed.<\/p>\n The organizers behind the measure have said that they collected enough signatures to qualify for the ballot. Those signatures, which were turned in to the city on Monday<\/a>, are still being verified.<\/p>\n Roccaforte said the numbers reported by SFMTA are only estimates. A more official report would come in August from the city controller\u2019s office. The latter is tasked with performing an independent analysis of the cost of every citywide initiative that qualifies for the November ballot. It would consider the measure\u2019s impact on all relevant departments, including SFMTA and Rec and Parks, as well as the Department of Public Works.<\/p>\n If the proposed measure makes the ballot, it may be an uphill battle. In 2024, 55 percent of voters citywide were in favor of Proposition K, which closed the road to cars.\u00a0<\/p>\n In the neighborhood, however, the proposal is likely to be popular: 64 percent of Sunset voters opposed closing the road to cars in 2024<\/a>, and successfully recalled their then-supervisor Joel Engardio<\/a> over the issue.\u00a0<\/p>\n More recently, the top candidates in the district\u2019s recent crowded supervisor race all supported<\/a> the proposal to keep the road open to cars during the week and closed on the weekends.<\/p>\n The dunes remain buried in litigation. An anti-park group sued the city<\/a> and five supervisors in 2025, and appealed last April <\/a>after their case was thrown out. The proposed measure also faces a lawsuit<\/a>, filed in June by a group of Sunset Dunes supporters, which argues that the language of the petition<\/a> that was used to gather signatures to get the measure on the ballot included several \u201cfalse or misleading<\/a> statements.\u201d Among those, they argue, is the claim that the creation of Sunset Dunes has slowed down emergency vehicles, and that the measure is a \u201ccompromise\u201d between park lovers<\/a> and park haters that will keep the two miles of former roadway \u201cexactly as it is.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n