Starting Monday, Oct. 5, Solana Beach is scheduled to begin rebuilding Lomas Santa Fe Drive between Santa Helena and Highland Drive. The project costs $7.5 million, and the city expects work to run through summer 2027. When it's done, this stretch will still have two travel lanes in each direction. It will also have a landscaped median, bike lanes and a planted multi-use path along the north side.
Those four lanes are what explain the coming year. Over the past decade, residents turned down plans that would have narrowed this road or rebuilt its intersections as roundabouts. What remains is a design that keeps road capacity and adds walking and cycling space around it. Building it takes about a year of cones, flaggers and digital signboards.
Two Earlier Plans That Didn't Survive
Earlier plans for this road went further. A 2012 traffic-calming proposal would have cut Lomas Santa Fe from four lanes to two near Highland. Residents warned that traffic would spill onto Via Mil Cumbres, and the city dropped that part of the plan.
The current effort started with a corridor walk audit and a community workshop in 2017, followed by public workshops in 2018. Roundabouts were among the early concepts, and they drew opposition. At its September 2018 meeting, the City Council removed every roundabout from the project. The city's own timeline sums up that period in one line: keep four travel lanes and remove the roundabouts.
From there, the project moved through ordinary steps. Between 2023 and 2024 it was split into East and West phases, and the East phase secured a $7 million federal grant. Caltrans approved construction in August 2025. The council awarded the East contract in 2026. Douglas Alden, chair of BikeWalkSolana, has been part of the process since 2017. He summed it up in the Union-Tribune:
"It's going to be a little bit of pain but a lot to gain."
What Gets Built in 0.93 Miles
The East segment is about 0.93 miles long and is the first phase of a larger corridor plan that runs west to Cedros. The city's project page lists the work:
- A shared-use path for walkers and cyclists along the north side, which the city engineer compares to the Coastal Rail Trail
- Class II bike lanes in both directions and upgraded ADA-compliant curb ramps
- Full-depth pavement replacement on parts of the road and a grind-and-overlay on others
- A new retaining wall between Santa Helena and Las Banderas to support the wider roadway
- Replacement of aging corrugated metal storm drain pipes, plus biofiltration basins for water quality
- Raised medians planted with native, drought-tolerant plants and watered by a recycled-water irrigation system
- Signal changes at key intersections and landscaped seating areas
The winning bid came in below the city's estimate. The engineer's estimate was $6,957,398. Tri-Group Construction & Development won the contract with a bid of $6,740,708, out of six bids received. With a 10% contingency, the total contract value is $7,415,708. Kleinfelder is managing construction and will keep a construction manager on site full time to handle safety and communication. Most of the money comes from a federal grant secured by Congressman Mike Levin. Measure S and the city's Transportation Impact Fee cover the rest.
The Order of Work
According to City Engineer Austin Frisby, crews will work from east to west, with the road work in three stages. Before construction, the city said in an Aug. 25 notice that equipment staging and vegetation pruning would come first.
| Stage | Work | Where you'll notice it |
|---|---|---|
| First | Raised medians | Center of the roadway, starting near Highland |
| Second | New sidewalk | South side of Lomas Santa Fe |
| Third | Roadway improvements and the multi-use path | North side |
The schedule rules matter more than the stages for most trips. Work runs Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and stops on city holidays. The city has also said there will be no construction during the Del Mar Fair or around Thanksgiving and Christmas. At least one lane will stay open in each direction for the whole project. "We're not closing any roads," Greg Gomez of Kleinfelder told the Union-Tribune.
Sources differ on how long it will take. The city's FAQ says about 11 months. The Union-Tribune called it a 14-month project. Both describe completion in late summer 2027.
Where the Friction Lands
Via Mil Cumbres comes up again. It was the street residents expected to absorb traffic in 2012, when the four-lane road was nearly cut to two. In this project, Via Mil Cumbres residents will be detoured to one of two exit routes during two short work phases. The exact routes and dates have not been posted yet.
The other concern raised at council was cut-through traffic. In public comments, residents said drivers might avoid delays by using parallel neighborhood streets such as Sun Valley Road. Keeping a lane open in each direction is the city's main answer to that concern. The council materials say the city will watch traffic and make adjustments if needed, and that it will reach out to HOAs and local businesses.
Lomas Santa Fe Country Club, at 1505 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, sits on this corridor. The city says it and the contractor will keep access to homes and businesses open whenever possible and will give advance notice of any temporary restrictions. People who walk or bike the stretch should expect signed detours in active work zones.
West of I-5, an Early Result
On the other side of the freeway, the city has already finished a smaller project on Lomas Santa Fe. Last winter it installed smart-signal technology at all five intersections west of I-5. In an Aug. 19 update, the city said average signal waits had dropped by more than half since the spring and the longest waits had been cut nearly in half. It also gave pedestrians a head start at the Highway 101 crossing.
That segment is next in line for a full rebuild. In February 2026, SANDAG awarded $3.5 million for Lomas Santa Fe Corridor Improvements west of Interstate 5. The city's timeline has West phase design being finalized in 2027, the same year the East work is due to finish. No construction date has been set for the West phase. When the East phase is done, Lomas Santa Fe will have new medians and a planted path on one side of I-5 and recently retimed signals on the other.
Keeping Up Week to Week
Right now the project page's sections for traffic alerts, lane closures and progress are still placeholders. The city says lane-closure news will be posted there as work moves along. The page also has an email sign-up for updates. City Manager Alyssa Muto has said that keeping the community informed is key to the project. Outreach will include construction notices, large digital boards along the corridor, a website and a helpline. The schedule and alerts are posted on the Lomas Santa Fe Corridor East project page.
If you own a home near Lomas Santa Fe and are thinking about selling or buying during construction, the work schedule can affect when to hold showings and how buyers get to the property. Sonja Huter can help you plan around the posted construction schedule.