For the second time, San Francisco voters will get to have a say on the contentious battle over the Great Highway as some westside residents are fighting to reopen the closed road to cars on weekdays.<\/p>\n
If passed in November, Prop G would reopen the road to cars Monday through Friday and keep it as a park on the weekends — which supporters call the “compromise.” The compromise was in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown when fewer cars were on the road and people were looking for outdoor spaces to enjoy.<\/p>\n
The measure seeks to reverse Proposition K, a November 2024 ballot measure that fully shut the 2-mile stretch of road to cars and turned the site into a coastal park along Ocean Beach, now called Sunset Dunes.<\/p>\n
“At the end of the day, I prioritize those that need to commute to work or school on weekdays over weekday recreational needs for the road,” said Supervisor Alan Wong, a Prop G supporter, in an interview.<\/p>\n
Wong represents District 4, which encompasses the Sunset district, where the Upper Great Highway is located.<\/p>\n
Prop K officially closed the Upper Great Highway to cars on March 14, 2025. Streetlights at intersections were removed, and park structures and amenities began popping up.<\/p>\n
The group on the other side of the issue that’s been advocating to keep the road as a full-time park is called “Friends of Sunset Dunes.”<\/p>\n
“This park and this space is evolving,” said the group’s President Lucas Lux in an interview. “We’re putting out for folks what we have heard they want, places for their children to play, places to learn and to be in nature.”<\/p>\n
After the road shut down, a group of voters and residents on San Francisco’s west side, where a majority voted against Prop K, started a movement to reopen the Great Highway back to cars and return to the “compromise.” <\/p>\n
The group, called “Great Highway for Everyone,” received enough signatures to qualify its measure for the upcoming November election.<\/p>\n
“I think that it’s fair to allow sharing of the road for vehicle access on weekdays when there’s a high demand for commuter access during those times,” Wong said.<\/p>\n
Prop G supporters argue that traffic injuries in the Sunset district have gone up since the closure since traffic that once relied on the Great Highway is being diverted to other nearby roads.<\/p>\n
“Since the Great Highway closed, traffic injuries in Sunset neighborhoods have risen sharply — a serious an unacceptable threat to public safety,” wrote Richard Corriea in an official Prop G proponent argument submitted to the Department of Elections. Corriea leads the “Yes on G” campaign.<\/p>\n
However, the data tells a different story. In all of 2024, there were 106 traffic collisions resulting in injury in District 4, compared to 99 in all of 2025, according to data from the San Francisco Police Department and the Department of Public Health.<\/p>\n
Friends of Sunset Dunes and other pedestrian safety advocate groups have called out the Yes on G campaign for its claims on traffic crashes in the Sunset.<\/p>\n
“The data is very clear that crashes are actually down in the neighborhood,” Lux said. “It’s fair to have a preference of wanting this to be a road, but let’s not resort to lying to voters to get that.”<\/p>\n
Some roads near the park did see an increase in traffic congestion in the months following the closure, according to a study from the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. Those roads include the Lower Great Highway and Chain of Lakes Drive. Muni buses experienced minor increases in travel times on 19th Avenue.<\/p>\n
Friends of Sunset Dunes and others against Prop G say that the measure will “destroy” the park, including a new children’s playground that opened over the weekend on the roadway.<\/p>\n
“If Prop G passes, the playground has to go, the skate park has to go, every park feature has to go,” Lux said.<\/p>\n
The City Controller’s Office says that making the road suitable for cars would “significantly increase the cost of government,” wrote Deputy Controller ChiaYu Ma in a letter to the city’s Department of Elections.<\/p>\n
Adding in new traffic signals, restriping the road, erecting signage, and removing park amenities could cost the city about $10 million, the Controller’s Office says.<\/p>\n
Additional annual expenses for sand removal could cost anywhere from $100,000 to $1.5 million annually. But the city could also save around $300,000 per year since it won’t need to hire full-time staff to maintain the park, the Controller’s Office estimates.<\/p>\n
Those against Prop G also say that closing the park on the weekdays will have an additional social cost, with the consequence of fewer recreational opportunities.<\/p>\n
Supervisor Myrna Melgar, a staunch opponent of Prop G, pointed to the dozens of children having fun on the new pirate-themed playground which opened Saturday.<\/p>\n
Melgar said in an interview that Prop G “takes away the value for these little guys because they’re going to grow up with this park.”<\/p>\n
One year after the park’s opening, the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department analyzed visitor statistics. It found that the park averages 3,800 visitors on weekdays and 7,200 visitors on weekend days.<\/p>\n
But Wong says that there are plenty of recreational spaces already in the area, like Golden Gate Park, Ocean Beach, Lake Merced and Stern Grove Park.<\/p>\n
“I think that with the available recreational spaces, it’s a fair compromise to allow use of the roadway for commuter travel during weekdays,” he said.<\/p>\n