On March 15, 2016, close to 100 Oceanside residents and business owners came to look at maps of Coast Highway. The maps divided the road into five sections, showed it narrowed to two lanes with parking and turn lanes, and widened it back to four lanes at the major intersections. The plans called for nine roundabouts and four traffic lights. City staff and consultants took questions one on one, and the city's project manager, John Amberson, summed up the reaction for The Coast News: "Comments are across the board."
Ten years later, the road through South Oceanside still shows how that argument ended. From Oceanside Boulevard to Morse Street, South Coast Highway runs one lane in each direction. South of Morse it goes back to two lanes each way toward Buena Vista Lagoon. The road widens at Morse because in 2019 the city settled on that street as its compromise with South Oceanside opponents of the road diet, and the downtown redesign the city has scheduled for spring 2027 stops at Oceanside Boulevard.
The half mile that started as an experiment
The two-lane stretch was a pilot. In January 2016, KPBS reported that the City Council was considering narrowing the section between Morse Street and Oceanside Boulevard from four lanes to two. The plan added eight-foot bike lanes, an eight-foot buffer between bikes and cars, and an illuminated pedestrian crossing.
City traffic engineer David DiPierro told KPBS the pilot came out of a citizens' safety campaign seeking "safer and easier access from south Oceanside to north Oceanside using Coast Highway." The city would measure vehicle speeds and travel times during the trial. DiPierro was open about the exit: "If it's not working the way that we hoped it would, then we can obviously go back to a four-lane road."
At the March open house, opinions split. One resident who lived between Oceanside Boulevard and Morse Street told The Coast News he expected two lanes to slow traffic to a halt and push cars onto residential side streets. Grant Tondro, owner of Urge Gastropub on South Coast Highway, backed the plan. He pointed out that the highway had no continuous bike lanes and said his restaurant had served 18 to 20 cyclists the previous Saturday. Kim Millwood, owner of That Boy Good downtown, said slower traffic meant more walking, biking and business visibility.
The council approved the half-mile pilot in 2016. The road never went back to four lanes. In February 2024, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that despite some early complaints, the segment "remains two lanes."
How Morse Street became the boundary
The pilot was meant as a test for a much bigger idea. The city's Coast Highway Vision and Strategic Plan, adopted in 2009, covers about three miles from Harbor Drive to Buena Vista Lagoon. In 2016, city staff chose an option that would have put the road diet on 3.5 miles of Coast Highway from Harbor Drive to Eaton Street. That would have carried one lane each way through nearly all of South O.
A group called Save South Oceanside formed in 2016 to oppose that plan. It opposed both the road diet and an incentive district that would have allowed taller, denser buildings along the corridor in return for public parking and open space. According to The Coast News in July 2019, the group wanted both to end at Oceanside Boulevard. Member Joel West made the group's case to the paper:
"South Oceanside is very different from downtown. What might be a good idea there isn't going to work here."
The Planning Commission settled on a compromise. At its June 11, 2019 meeting it recommended Alternative 3, which ended the incentive district and the road diet at Morse Street. That left the 2016 pilot segment as the southern end of the narrowed road. The plan had also shown a "South O Village" node between Cassidy and Whaley streets with wide sidewalks and mixed-use buildings. Save South Oceanside objected that it could lead to redevelopment of the buildings then housing Anita's Mexican Restaurant and Privateer Coal Fire Pizza. City Principal Planner Russ Cunningham said a node there was unlikely given the community's concerns.
The council approved Alternative 3 on August 14, 2019. In 2023, The Coast News summarized the result: road diet features from Harbor Drive to Morse Street, with two lanes in each direction kept from Morse to the southern city limit. South of Morse, the plan calls for streetscape features such as mid-block crosswalks and landscaping.
The three stretches, as planned today
The downtown project is where the next physical change will happen. The city's current Coast Highway Corridor Project page sets its limits at Surfrider Way on the north and Oceanside Boulevard on the south. That southern limit is where the 2016 pilot begins.
| Stretch | Lanes today | What the plan calls for |
|---|---|---|
| Surfrider Way to Oceanside Boulevard | Four | Road diet to two lanes; roundabouts at Civic Center Drive, Michigan Avenue, Washington Avenue, Wisconsin Avenue and West Street; bike lanes, raised medians, new crosswalks with flashing beacons, repaving |
| Oceanside Boulevard to Morse Street | Two, since the 2016 pilot | Already the planned two-lane configuration |
| Morse Street to the southern city limit | Four | Stays two lanes each way under Alternative 3, with streetscape features such as mid-block crosswalks and landscaping |
Once the northern section is built, a South O driver heading downtown would stay at one lane in each direction from Morse Street to Surfrider Way. The 2016 pilot would then sit in the middle of a continuous two-lane corridor, and Morse Street would be the only place along the route where Coast Highway goes back to four lanes.
Where the downtown project stands this fall
The project has cleared its major approvals and has several funding sources lined up. In January 2023, the council approved a $2 million design contract with the San Diego firm Kimley-Horn and Associates, the Union-Tribune reported. In February 2024, the California Coastal Commission approved the city's corridor plan unanimously on its consent calendar, after Oceanside agreed to a dozen changes requested by commission staff. The Union-Tribune noted that the city first submitted the plan to the commission in 2020.
The money comes from several sources:
- SANDAG awarded the city $3.5 million through its TransNet-funded Smart Growth Incentive Program for Phase 1 construction from Neptune Way to Topeka Drive.
- The city's 2026-27 capital improvement budget includes $1.5 million for the corridor project. About $7 million in developer fee revenue for construction is spread across the five-year budget plan, according to the Union-Tribune in May 2026.
The city's project page lists contractor bidding by early 2027 and the start of construction in spring 2027.
A separate downtown change is moving on its own schedule. The same 2026-27 budget includes about $300,000 for "pedestrian scrambles" at Coast Highway's intersections with Mission Avenue and Seagaze Drive. At a scramble, traffic stops in every direction so pedestrians can cross in any direction, including diagonally. City Engineer Brian Thomas told the Union-Tribune these crossings are not part of the corridor project.
What the drive downtown will look like
For anyone who uses Coast Highway to get from South O to the pier, the harbor or the Civic Center, the 2027 work will change most of that drive. Lane reductions and up to five roundabouts would replace today's four lanes north of Oceanside Boulevard. Roundabouts at Civic Center Drive, Michigan Avenue and Washington Avenue have been in the plan since the 2023 design contract. A roundabout proposed at Route 76 was dropped because of concerns over Caltrans right-of-way.
Supporters have explained the goal in terms of through traffic. Drivers often use Coast Highway to get around Interstate 5 when the freeway backs up. Joan Bockman, a longtime Oceanside resident, told the Union-Tribune in 2023 that roundabouts address that: "Slow and continuous, it will get you there just as fast." Mitch Silverstein, a bike rider who had recently moved to South Oceanside, told the paper the changes were "a necessary step to get where we need to be to have a coastal corridor that's not just for vehicles."
When the council started design work in 2023, Councilmember Eric Joyce asked about South Oceanside, telling The Coast News he was "wondering if they'll see what's happening and want to be part of it." Under Alternative 3 as approved in 2019, the corridor plan narrows Coast Highway to one lane each way from Harbor Drive to Morse Street and keeps two lanes each way from Morse to the southern city limit.
Roadwork, parking and frontage along Coast Highway affect what a South O property earns and what it costs to run. If you own a rental or mixed-use building near the corridor and want to talk about what the 2027 construction schedule could mean for your tenants and leasing, Danny Owens can help you plan for it. Schedule a Free Investment Consultation.
