Reopening the Great Highway to Cars Would Cost $13.9 Million, San Francisco Agencies Estimate

Reopening the upper Great Highway to weekday car traffic would cost San Francisco an estimated $13.95 million, according to figures the SFMTA and the Recreation and Parks Department provided to Mission Local in July 2026. The estimate lands as a ballot measure to partially reverse the road’s conversion into Sunset Dunes park heads toward the November 2026 election.

What the Measure Would Do

The proposed “Great Highway for Everyone Act” would return private cars to the two-mile stretch between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard on weekdays, keeping it car-free on weekends. That stretch closed to traffic in March 2025 and opened as Sunset Dunes park in April 2025, after voters passed Proposition K in November 2024 by 55 to 45 percent. Organizers turned in signatures to the city in early July, and SFist reported on July 7 that the measure will likely qualify for the November ballot. The signatures are still being verified.

Where the $13.95 Million Goes

Most of the cost sits with the SFMTA: about $13.2 million to restore and replace traffic signals along the corridor, including roughly $1.2 million for the signal at Lincoln Way at the park’s northern edge. An SFMTA spokesperson told Mission Local the signals are past their useful life and would have needed similar work even if the road had never closed. The Recreation and Parks Department estimates another $750,000 to remove park amenities and convert the space back to a road. KQED, which obtained records on the estimates, and SFist also reported the signal costs. A formal, independent cost analysis from the city controller’s office is expected in August.

For comparison, building the park has cost at least $1.2 million so far: about $700,000 in Recreation and Parks funds for signage and amenities, plus roughly $500,000 in nonprofit money for public art and other installations. Reopening the road on weekdays would mean removing features added since the closure, including the skate area and the octopus sculpture.

The Bigger Fight

The park has been contested since before it opened. Sunset voters opposed Proposition K by wide margins in 2024 and recalled then-Supervisor Joel Engardio in September 2025 over the closure. An anti-park lawsuit filed in 2025 was thrown out and is on appeal, and a pro-park group sued in June 2026, arguing the reopening petition contained misleading statements. If the measure qualifies, it will share the November ballot with the Connect Bay Area transit funding measure.

What This Means for Visitors

Nothing changes at the park for now. Sunset Dunes remains open daily from 5 a.m. to midnight, car-free, with walking and biking paths, a skate area, and outdoor exercise equipment along Ocean Beach. Our Sunset Dunes guide covers what is there and how to reach it by Muni.

Photo: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.