SOLANA BEACH — Roadway and sidewalk upgrades on North Cedros, Valley and Stevens avenues could get a funding boost after council members adopted resolutions at the Feb. 25 meeting that will allow staff to apply for $2.4 million in transportation grants from the San Diego Association of Governments.
Improvements include widening sidewalks and adding bike lanes and a “neighborhood circle” at the intersection of Cliff Street and Cedros.
“It will not be a full roundabout, but a neighborhood circle that kind of helps the traffic to circulate,” City Engineer Mo Sammak said. “We know that’s going to be a tremendous improvement to the neighborhood.”
SANDAG has $15 million in grant funding available for projects that increase walking, biking and transit use.
Solana Beach is applying for $1.9 million from the Smart Growth Incentive Program, which has a $2 million maximum allowable grant for any one infrastructure project focused around public transit. The city is currently working with North County Transit District to develop a mixed-use complex near the train station.
“We felt the North Cedros project would be a good candidate for this basically because of the North County Transit District’s upcoming projects,” Sammak said. “If that translates into reality Cedros will have to be improved, and I think this would be a good funding source to do the improvements.”
Planned upgrades in the area include adding curbs, gutters, sidewalks and the neighborhood circle. The estimated cost is $2.1 million. The city will provide $200,000 in funding from its TransNet money.
TransNet is a voter-approved half-cent sales tax for transportation projects.
Matching funds are not required but by offering them, “we can score a few points,” Sammak said.
The city will also seek $500,000 from the Active Transportation Grant Program, which has a maximum allowable grant of $1.35 million for any one project, for upgrades on Valley and Stevens.
Improvements include street resurfacing, restriping Stevens to provide one lane in each direction, adding sidewalks and bike lanes and constructing a continuous center turn lane.
The estimated cost is $600,000. The city plans to provide $100,000 in matching funds from TransNet.
In some cases, existing sidewalks will be widened. No parking loss is expected in either project, the city manager said.
The grants can be used for planning and construction. Solana Beach is only seeking money for construction.
Applications are due March 20. Projects will be presented to the SANDAG board for selection in August.
