A last-ditch lawsuit attempting to overturn 2024’s Prop K and bring cars back to the Great Highway has failed, as a judge just tossed out the lawsuit’s claim that the car-free Great Highway ballot measure skirted California law.

You are likely aware that San Francisco voters overwhelmingly approved making the Great Highway car-free with 2024’s Prop K vote that passed 55%-45%, establishing the pedestrian park walkway that we now call Sunset Dunes. And you are probably aware that Prop K’s big victory at the ballot box has absolutely not resolved the Great Highway controversy on the west side, as District 4 voters angrily recalled Supervisor Joel Engardio pretty much entirely because of his support for making that thoroughfare car-free. Plus, just three days before cars were permanently kicked off the Great Highway, angry Sunset residents filed a lawsuit to overturn Prop K and get the courts to allow cars back on that now-pedestrain roadway.

And that lawsuit just failed. The Chronicle reports that San Francisco Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ross has tossed out the lawsuit against the car-free Great Highway, so the Sunset Dunes park has survived yet another challenge against it.

The lawsuit to bring cars back to the Great Highway was filed by Matthew Boschetto, who ran unsuccessfully against Myrna Melgar for Melgar’s District 7 supervisor seat in the same election in which Prop K passed. Other plaintiffs listed were Great Wall Hardware store owner and car-free Great Highway critic Albert Chow, and LivableSF, whose founder Vin Budhai was once co-organizer of the Recall Joel Engardio campaign.

Their lawsuit argued that Prop K even being on the ballot was a violation of the age-old NIMBY tool CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), because it was technically brought to the ballot by the SF Board of Supervisors, not by the voters. Judge Ross rejected the argument outright.

“We are glad the Court affirmed the will of the voters in passing Proposition K and closing the Upper Great Highway to private vehicles,” SF City Attorney spokesperson Jen Kwart said in a statement to the Chronicle. “We are pleased the court found the City complied with CEQA.”

Deposed former D4 Supervisor Joel Engardio couldn’t help but spike the football after the judge’s ruling. “It’s time to consider Sunset Dunes settled,” Engardio tweeted late Monday night. “Too many people have seen how the park is good for the environment, local businesses, and the physical and mental health of every visitor. Future generations will see this as a silly controversy because the park’s benefits far outweigh the fears of traffic jams that never happened.”  

But Engardio is no longer District 4 supervisor. That position now belongs to Daniel Lurie appointee Alan Wong, and Wong wants cars back on the Great Highway.

“If this decision holds, then the only way to reopen the Great Highway for vehicles on weekdays is for another ballot measure,” Supervisor Wong told the Chronicle. “I voted No on Proposition K and supported the compromise, but I began my term wanting to hear from all Sunset District residents.”

This means we are probably going to relitigate the car-free Great Highway with yet another ballot measure, even though it’s the exact same ballot measure we voted on in 2024. Or that is, it will be another ballot measure if Wong can talk four supervisors (himself included) into supporting such a ballot measure. And he’s only got seven days from today to do this if he wants this measure on the June 2, 2026 primary election ballot.

Related: New D4 Supervisor Alan Wong Comes Out Against Car-Free Great Highway, Wants a Do-Over With Another Ballot Measure [SFist]

Image: @JoelEngardio via Twitter