OCEANSIDE — Designs for a new look along a one-mile stretch of Coast Highway in Oceanside are in the works to include lane reductions, bike lanes, roundabouts and pedestrian crossings.
The Oceanside City Council approved a $2 million contract with San Diego consulting firm Kimley Horn and Associates to design a segment of the city’s Coast Highway Corridor Project. The design process is expected to begin in spring 2023 and last approximately 18 months.
“The project’s objective is to transform Coast Highway into a vibrant corridor utilizing the livable communities and smart growth principles,” said City Engineer Brian Thomas.
While the city’s goal is to eventually enhance the stretch of Coast Highway through its boundaries, the project’s initial phase will take place along Coast Highway 101 between state Route 76 and Wisconsin Avenue. Future segments from Harbor Drive to SR 76 and Oceanside Boulevard to the city’s southerly limits could happen with additional funding later.
Plans will include implementing a “road diet” along Coast Highway, reducing the lanes in each direction from two to one separated by a raised median. The plans will also add bicycle lanes, buffers, mid-block crosswalks, sidewalk improvements, landscaping and roundabouts at six intersections.
Councilmember Eric Joyce expressed interest in adding protected bike lanes, which the city engineer indicated could be possible.
“Making downtown more bicycle and people-friendly versus car friendly is an exciting prospect,” Joyce said. “It is an equitable action; it can help us meet our climate action goals. I’m looking at South Oceanside, wondering if they’ll see what’s happening and want to be part of it.”
According to Thomas, the project’s benefits could include enhanced pedestrian and outdoor dining experiences.
The vision to change Coast Highway, including the notion of a road diet, began when the City Council adopted the Coast Highway Vision and Strategic Plan in 2009.
In 2013, the council approved the Coast Highway Corridor Study Environmental Impact Report, which identified several alternatives for the project’s design. In 2016, staff selected Alternative 1 as its preferred choice to implement road diets along a 3.5-mile stretch of Coast Highway between Harbor Drive and Eaton Street.
South Oceanside residents were previously opposed to this alternative due to reducing the lanes south of Morse Street from two lanes to one.
In 2019, the council opted for Alternative 3, which would implement road diet features from Harbor Drive to Morse Street. The plan would keep two lanes in each direction from Morse Street to the southerly city limits but would include streetscape features such as mid-block crosswalks and landscaping.
To help pay for the design phase, the city is taking $1.8 million for the city’s thoroughfare and signal fund after money was freed up from the College Boulevard Bridge Cantilever Project, now funded by the North River Farms developer.
Mayor Esther Sanchez noted her concerns about potential impacts on the bus routes along Coast Highway and better protection for bicyclists in their lanes.
City Manager Jonathan Borrego said staff is working with the North County Transit District to not adversely impact current bus routes. Borrego also noted the plans would include bus turnouts to allow buses to merge safely and avoid blocking traffic lanes.
Joan Bockman, a resident who lives near Coast Highway, hopes to see the city add even more roundabouts and other ways to dissuade Interstate 5 traffic from using Coast Highway as an alternative route through Oceanside.
“It’s not I-5 West, and we want it to stop being I-5 West,” Bockman said. “I urge approval of this, and someday I would like to get us to slow and continuous movement through the entire downtown area with no stops.”