Solana Beach council reviews Lomas Santa Fe project

Solana Beach City Council members reviewed the status of Phase 3 of the Lomas Santa Fe Corridor Improvement Project during their Oct. 27 meeting.

According to a city staff report, the project is “substantially completed” and ready to be submitted to the San Diego Association of Governments, which is providing grant funding, ahead of a SANDAG-imposed Jan. 4, 2022 deadline.

The fourth and final phase will be the final engineering and construction.

Features of the project will include a multi-use trail on both sides of Interstate 5, bus shelters, bicycle racks and other amenities.

Solana Beach City Councilman David Zito said there could be signs added with rules for e-bikes, which are becoming more popular.

“I think there’s an opportunity to do some creative work here about signage or other things we can do around communicating to e-bikers how this trail should be used and where perhaps they should be, whether they should be in the bike lanes on the street or on the trail, based upon the speeds they’re traveling at,” he said.

The council previously discussed options for enhancing the retaining wall between Santa Helena and Via Mil Cumbres, according to a city staff report. Options are still to be determined, and can be decided up until the start of construction.

The city completed the first two phases of the Lomas Santa Fe Corridor Improvement Project, which included figuring out infrastructure needs and design options, during the 2016-17 and 2017-18 fiscal years. Phase 3 includes the development of the final design plans.

Funding for the project is coming from a $616,050 San Diego Association of Governments grant and $68,450 from the city. The City Council hired engineering firm Michael Baker International almost three years ago

City Manager Greg Wade said some of the design elements are still to be determined.

“We certainly have some design and refinements to come back to you with at some point, and we’ll keep working on those,” he said.