If Proposition G passes on Tuesday, when do cars actually come back to the Upper Great Highway? The ballot measure doesn't give a date. The official San Francisco voter information pamphlet says that before the roadway can reopen to private vehicles, the City must first get "all necessary approvals, including any permits required by the California Coastal Act or from other government agencies." The Controller's statement adds that a coastal development permit is required, and that applying for one "may prompt additional requirements, including studies or permit conditions."
That puts the two-mile promenade between Lincoln Way and Sloat Boulevard on a different clock from election night. Preliminary local results start at 8:45 p.m. on Nov. 3. The City has until Dec. 3, 2026 to certify and release final local results. Meanwhile, the Friends of Sunset Dunes calendar has events booked on both sides of Election Day. If it passes, the measure would divide the park by hours of the week, giving weekdays to cars and weekends to the park.
The line Prop G draws is a clock
Today Sunset Dunes is closed to private vehicles at all times. It stays open to emergency vehicles, official government vehicles and intra-park shuttles. Under Prop G, the City would close the park from Monday at 4 a.m. through Friday at 6 p.m. and open the roadway to private vehicles during those hours. Weekday holidays are the exception. From Friday evening until Monday morning, and on holidays, the space would stay a park.
This is the third citywide vote on the road in four years. Voters rejected Proposition I in 2022. Prop K passed with 55% in November 2024 and made the car closure permanent, and Sunset Dunes opened in March 2025, according to The San Francisco Standard's Oct. 22 account of the fight. Prop G would return to the pandemic-era arrangement, with cars on weekdays and the road closed on weekends. It needs 50% plus one to pass.
A weekday-only split matters most for the things that happen on weekdays. Laying the park's current programming over that clock shows which parts of the week the vote is really about.
The November calendar, sorted by Prop G's hours
Here is what Friends of Sunset Dunes lists on its events page for the first two weeks of November. The last column shows where each event would fall under the measure's schedule, once a reopening was actually permitted.
| Date | Event | Time | Location | Under Prop G's schedule |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sun., Nov. 1 | Chair Yoga | 2–3 p.m. | Sunset Dunes @ Irving | Weekend park hours |
| Sun., Nov. 1 | Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture with the SF Philharmonic | 5–5:30 p.m. | Pacheco Surf Perch | Weekend park hours |
| Tue., Nov. 3 | Election Day; preliminary results from 8:45 p.m. | |||
| Wed., Nov. 4 | Acoustic Happy Hour | 4–5 p.m. | Noriega Sunset Lounge | Weekday car hours |
| Every Wed. | Chinese Community Dance, taught in Cantonese | 11 a.m. | Irving Activity Studio | Weekday car hours |
| Sat., Nov. 7 | Dune Revegetation | 9 a.m.–noon | Sunset Dunes @ Judah | Weekend park hours |
| Sun., Nov. 8 | 2nd Sunday Serenades | Noon–2 p.m. | Sunset Dunes @ Judah | Weekend park hours |
| Sun., Nov. 8 | Community Cleanup | 1–3 p.m. | Sunset Dunes at Noriega | Weekend park hours |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Dune Revegetation | 9 a.m.–noon | Sunset Dunes @ Judah | Weekend park hours |
| Sat., Nov. 14 | Zumba and Shake the Fog! | 10:30–11:15 a.m. | Sunset Dunes @ Irving | Weekend park hours |
| Thu., Dec. 3 | Deadline to certify final local results |
Most of the scheduled programming already falls on Saturdays and Sundays, inside the window Prop G would keep as park. The weekday listings are the Wednesday dance class, which the organizer labels "New for 2026!", and the Acoustic Happy Hour the day after the election. Those two sit inside the hours the measure would give back to traffic.
None of that changes this month, whatever the vote. The permit comes first, and the pamphlet attaches no deadline to it. The calendar is the organizer's own listing, so check event pages before heading out, especially if the weather turns.
Shipwreck Cove's permit runs on its own timeline
The newest piece of the park shows the gap between the vote and any change on the ground. Shipwreck Cove, the pirate-ship-themed playground near Judah and Kirkham, opened on Saturday, Sept. 26. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that it is the only playground on the two-mile stretch. Something Labs designed and built it, a side project for designers whose day jobs are at the Exploratorium. Friends of Sunset Dunes commissioned it and raised $800,000 from about 1,000 people to pay for it.
It operates under a one-year pilot permit from the Recreation and Park Department, which could be extended indefinitely. The Chronicle reported that it could be dismantled and removed if Prop G passes. The same article adds that the California Coastal Commission would have to sign off first, which could delay removal for at least the year the playground is permitted. The playground has picnic tables that, according to the Chronicle, were reserved a month ahead for birthday parties. It also has a "xylocove," a playable instrument of struck plates, and a posted QR code where visitors can suggest design changes.
Shipwreck Cove is one of several additions since opening day. The Standard notes that the park has also gained a skate park and benches. It calls Sunset Dunes the city's third most popular park, citing 1.7 million visits in its first year.
The pamphlet doesn't say which of these features would go. The Controller's estimate includes about $750,000 "to remove existing park elements and restore roadway segments," with no list of individual pieces. In the Chronicle's account, the founder of Friends of Sunset Dunes described everything in the park, from artwork to installations, as temporary.
The sand bill tracks the schedule too
The clock in Prop G also shows up in the City's sand-removal budget. The Controller's statement includes four years of spending on sand removal and dune reshaping along this stretch:
- FY 2022–23, roadway open to weekday cars: about $860,000
- FY 2023–24, roadway open to weekday cars: about $420,000
- FY 2024–25, Sunset Dunes Park: about $290,000
- FY 2025–26, Sunset Dunes Park: about $330,000
Spending was lower in both park years than in either weekday-traffic year. The Controller attributes the swings to the defined level of service, weather conditions and available funding. If Prop G passes and cars return, the statement projects $100,000 to $1.5 million a year in added sand removal and dune reshaping over current levels. Part of that would be offset by park staffing the weekdays would no longer need. That staffing currently costs about $300,000 a year for 1.5 full-time-equivalent positions. The Controller puts the total added annual cost at $500,000 to $1.9 million.
The one-time cost comes to about $9.8 million. That covers the $750,000 for removal and road restoration, $8.8 million for new traffic signals at eight intersections, and $200,000 for striping and signage. Earlier figures reported over the summer were higher. The Controller's number in the pamphlet is the official estimate.
Where the south end is headed
A signal at Sloat would affect more than the road. The Controller notes that installing signals where the Upper Great Highway meets Sloat Boulevard would change the Ocean Beach Climate Change Adaptation Project and could add costs for redesigning parts of the planned plaza there. That project is moving forward now. Rec and Park posted a notice on Oct. 13 announcing an Oct. 19 Civic Design Review of the Ocean Beach project.
So on the south end, a design process and a ballot result are running toward the same intersection on separate schedules. On the north end, from Irving to Noriega, the next two weekends are booked with yoga, the Philharmonic, dune planting and a cleanup. Under the measure, a permit has to come before any car, so the Nov. 7 and Nov. 14 dune revegetation mornings at Judah will happen on park ground whichever way Tuesday's vote goes.
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