A car-free stretch of highway in San Francisco leads to recall vote and warning to politicians

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Sunset Dunes Park is photographed Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vsquez)

SAN FRANCISCO – During the coronavirus pandemic, the city closed a stretch of a four-lane highway along San Francisco’s Pacific Coast and made it an automobile-free sanctuary where bicyclists and walkers flocked to exercise and socialize under open skies and to the sound of crashing waves.

But with the post-pandemic return to school and work, resentment grew among neighborhood residents who relied on the artery to get around. Some blamed the district city supervisor who helped make the change permanent by placing on a citywide ballot a measure to turn the 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) stretch into a new park.

On Tuesday,