ENCINITAS — A new park and ride in Cardiff is providing improved access to a network of popular trails in and around the San Elijo Lagoon as well as local beaches for hikers and bikers alike.
The San Elijo Activity Hub Park and Ride, located behind the Chevron gas station along Manchester Avenue, provides over 150 parking spaces, bike racks and electric vehicle charging station infrastructure, from which visitors can set out to explore local nature offerings.
Local and regional leaders celebrated its grand opening on Aug. 12, declaring that the centralized site not only facilitates exploration of nearby beaches and local trails but helps to alleviate parking issues in local neighborhoods.
“We all struggle in our beach communities with, ‘where do tourists come?,’ and this is a great improvement for that,” said Assemblymember Tasha Boerner (D-Encinitas). “I really appreciate that this facility is not just a parking lot.”
After parking their car or bike at the park and ride, visitors can walk just a few minutes to the suspension bridge under the freeway at Manchester Avenue, which opened last year. Using the three-mile loop from the San Elijo Lagoon Nature Center, they can easily explore the Harbaugh Seaside Trails, venture into Annie’s Canyon or connect to the beach.
Dani and Matt Staub of Del Mar have already used the park and ride a couple of times for the easy access it provides to local trails around the lagoon and beyond for them and their three young kids.
“It’s nice because you can just hop on over to Annie’s Canyon,” Dani Staub said.
The park and ride is among the many projects by Build NCC, the first phase of a 40-year transit improvement program led by Caltrans and the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) focused on the North Coast Corridor from Solana Beach to Carlsbad.
Recently, Build NCC also added 13 miles of carpool lanes along Interstate 5 between Solana Beach and Oceanside, new sound walls, seven miles of bike and pedestrian paths in Encinitas, 1.5 miles of rail double-tracking, 154 acres of wetlands restoration in San Elijo Lagoon, and over 400,000 cubic yards of sand at local beaches.
Local conservancy nonprofit Nature Collective has also been heavily involved in these infrastructure improvements around the lagoon. Executive Director Doug Gibson emphasized the importance of these projects in connecting more residents to the environment.
“San Elijo Lagoon is a special place … This is a major milestone in our ongoing efforts to make this beautiful place more accessible to everyone,” Gibson said. “Now more than ever, it’s important for us to connect with nature.”
Going forward, Nature Collective is planning to implement an agriculture learning facility called Fields of the Future on the land directly above the park and ride, where the community can learn about agriculture, climate change and water use.
Additional Build NCC projects will continue this fall, with new bike and pedestrian improvements in Carlsbad at the I-5 intersections with Chestnut Avenue and Palomar Airport and a new sound wall near Tamarack Avenue on northbound I-5.
The San Elijo Activity Hub Park and Ride is located at 2581 Via Poco.
