Carlsbad is taking a new look at an old proposal to move some of the southbound lanes of Carlsbad Boulevard, part of the historic Highway 101, a short distance east to avoid advancing coastal erosion.
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City Manager Geoff Patnoe, in a memo last week to the Carlsbad City Council, said he has hired a consultant to look for less costly alternatives than those previously suggested for the job at the southern end of the city near Encinitas.
Designs considered in 2023 included the possibility of traffic roundabouts and wetlands habitat restoration. They suggested at the time it would cost about $280 million to relocate a little more than a mile of the southbound lanes between Manzano Drive and Island Way.
“I have executed a contract with the consulting firm GHD, Inc., in the amount of $198,030 to prepare an updated alternatives analysis for the south Carlsbad Boulevard corridor,” Patnoe said in the memo, with the analysis to be finished by the end of this year.
“The consultant will evaluate feasible strategies for addressing coastal hazards, including erosion and flooding, and will develop five conceptual roadway alternatives for the segment between Solamar Drive and Island Way,” he said.
“The goal is to determine whether there are practical, more cost-effective approaches that can achieve the city’s objectives while maintaining flexibility to respond as coastal conditions and available funding evolve,” he said. “Once the findings are available, they will be shared with the City Council for consideration for future direction.”
Carlsbad has talked about realigning the southern end of Carlsbad Boulevard since at least the 1980s. In addition to moving the road away from the eroding bluffs, the change could free up more space for beach access and public recreation, at least until the erosion advances further.
The northbound and southbound lanes are separated by a median up to 250 feet wide in the segment to be moved, with the northbound lanes at a higher elevation.
The new route would move the southbound lanes closer to the northbound lanes, which would be left in place. In the past, city officials also have discussed additional changes to better adapt the highway for joint use by vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians.
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The city received a $500,000 grant from the California Coastal Conservancy in 2020 to pay for preliminary designs for the realignment. However, the effort stalled because of the high cost of construction and the difficulty of obtaining grant money for it.
Increasing erosion along with predictions for a powerful El Niño, which could bring strong storms this fall and winter, have prompted a new look at the plan.
Last month, the city declared a local emergency after waves and high tides threatened to undermine Carlsbad Boulevard just south of Palomar Airport Road. The declaration allowed the city to expedite work now underway to extend an existing rock revetment along the base of the crumbling bluff.
“We’ve already seen significant erosion, and we anticipate more,” said Jason Haber, the city’s intergovernmental affairs director, at this month’s meeting of the Carlsbad Environmental Sustainability Commission.
Moving the highway east also could avoid the need to keep extending the beach revetment. Environmentalists say revetments are a short-term solution that bring long-term problems.
The walls take up space that otherwise would be available for public recreation. A more serious concern is that over the years the revetments contribute to the erosion they are intended to prevent.
Carlsbad’s beaches rely largely on sediment dredged from the local lagoons to periodically replenish their sand. Natural sources have dwindled with coastal and upstream development, and the placement of barriers such as seawalls and revetments.
Also in the pipeline, but years from completion, is a regional plan to dredge sand from ocean deposits to replenish beaches along the entire San Diego County coastline.
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