SOLANA BEACH — Solana Beach got the ball rolling on roadway improvements to its most significant east-west thoroughfare.
The city broke ground on the eastern phase of plans to upgrade Lomas Santa Fe Drive, which include new storm drain infrastructure, a multiuse trail, bike lanes, medians landscaped with drought-tolerant plants, a new traffic signal and new paving for vehicle lanes, according to city documents.
Pedestrian improvements along the heavily traveled road include benches, Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant curb ramps, and decorative paving.
Mayor Lesa Heebner, City Council members and city staff who worked on the project broke ground during a ceremony on Oct. 28.
“This project has been a long time coming and notably was one of the capital improvement projects that received the most public input ever,” Heebner said at the event. “The focus for the design was safety and multimodal access. And it happens to be beautiful as well.”
The upgraded portion of the street stretches from Santa Helena near Interstate 5 to the city’s boundary at Highland Drive near San Dieguito County Park.
The city awarded Tri-Group Construction a $7.4 million contract for the project in May, including a 10% contingency.
Funding comes largely from $7 million secured by Rep. Mike Levin, D-Dana Point, with the city’s Measure S providing the balance.
The project is set to be completed by late summer or early fall 2027, with an estimated 11-month construction schedule, according to Heebner.
“Let’s face it, all remodeling and construction projects cause some disruption, but our goal is to minimize this and ensure safety as we upgrade the corridor,” she said.
The work is set to take place in three phases, starting with the medians, followed by the south side of the road and finishing with the north side, according to city documents.
City Engineer Austin Frisby told The Coast News that proactively addressing residents’ traffic concerns had been a top priority.
“It’s really just being mindful of phasing the construction such that we’re maintaining one lane in each direction for the duration of the project, figuring out where we can work within the windows of school drop-offs and holiday vacations and those kinds of things,” Frisby said. “So really just being mindful of our residents and our community surrounding us.”
The city plans to finalize the design for improvements to the portion of Lomas Santa Fe Drive west of I-5 by next year.
The San Diego Association of Governments, or SANDAG, awarded $3.5 million for the western portion earlier this year.
Frisby said the rail trail components were the parts of both projects he looked forward to completing most.
“Having our own coastal rail trail on the east of the 5, I think that’s going to be the coolest thing,” he said. “And when we extend this in phase two, hopefully down the road, really just providing that single-use corridor — just to access the eastern to western constraints of the city.”
