Lomas Santa Fe's East Stretch Broke Ground Last Week. Its First Break Arrives With the Holidays.

At 5:30 on a weekday afternoon, the crews working on Lomas Santa Fe Drive between Santa Helena Drive and Highland Drive end their scheduled day. On Thursday, December 3, that is also the minute the doors open at Lomas Santa Fe Country Club for Community Resource Center's 10th annual Jingle & Mingle. The club sits at 1505 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, inside the construction zone.

That overlap tells you how this project is laid out. The City of Solana Beach held a groundbreaking for the Lomas Santa Fe Corridor–East Improvement Project on Wednesday, October 28. The project costs about $7.5 million and will run into fall 2027. Two features make it easier to live with than most. The work runs on a published clock with planned pauses. And the finished street keeps the same number of travel lanes it has now. The change happens along the edges of the road and down the middle.

A Decade of Decisions Kept the Four Lanes

Lomas Santa Fe keeps its four travel lanes when the work is done. The staff report approving the construction contract says the project "will maintain two lanes of travel in both directions." That was settled years ago. The City Council presentation from May 27, 2026, lays out the history:

The decisions made in 2017 and 2018 shape the project you see now. With four lanes kept and roundabouts off the table, the money goes to the edges and the center median. The federal share came through Community Project Funding secured with the support of Congressman Mike Levin. The rest comes from the City's Measure S funds and Transportation Impact Fees.

The Union-Tribune quoted City Manager Alyssa Muto describing the end result: "On the other side (of the construction) will be a wonderful roadway with two lanes in each direction, some beautiful medians, some bike lanes and a lovely multi-use path with vegetation."

The Middle Changes First and the North Side Last

Since the lane count isn't changing, the order of the work determines what you see from week to week. City Engineer Austin Frisby told the Union-Tribune that crews will work from east to west, starting at Highland Drive and moving toward Santa Helena. The work comes in this order:

1. Medians. New raised medians planted with native, drought-tolerant landscaping.
2. South side. New sidewalk along the south edge of Lomas Santa Fe.
3. North side. Roadway improvements plus a 0.93-mile multi-use trail, which Frisby compared to the Coastal Rail Trail.

The City's FAQ says the job will be built in three phases. The first weeks were mostly prep work. The City's project page says crews would set out cones and signs, mark the ground, and dig small test holes, called potholing, to find water, gas and electrical lines before heavier work starts.

Because the order is medians, then south, then north, the trail people have been waiting for comes last. Anyone who walks or bikes this stretch will see the center of the road change long before the north edge does.

The Clock the Crews Work By

The schedule makes the project easy to plan around. According to the City's FAQ, work runs 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except on city holidays. Work outside those hours needs City approval. The same page lists three planned pauses: "No construction during Del Mar Fair and around Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays."

Thanksgiving falls on November 26 this year, three weeks after this post goes up. So the first pause comes about six weeks after work started on October 13. The second comes in late December. The Fair pause comes next summer, during what should be the last stretch of the job.

In the same Union-Tribune report, Greg Gomez, project manager for Kleinfelder, the City's construction management firm, said: "We're not closing any roads, we'll always have a lane open in each direction at all times." The paper also reported two brief work phases when Via Mil Cumbres residents will be detoured to one of two exits, and said Kleinfelder will keep a construction manager on site full time.

The contractor is Tri-Group Construction and Development, Inc., chosen as the lowest responsive and responsible bidder. The staff report estimates the job at 220 working days. Count only weekdays, take out the holiday and Fair pauses, and you get a project that started in October and finishes in fall 2027.

December at the Club Inside the Zone

Lomas Santa Fe Country Club lists its address as 1505 Lomas Santa Fe Drive. It offers golf, tennis and pickleball, aquatics, fitness, dining and events. That puts it inside the construction zone, and two community events are on its calendar in the first week of December.

Jingle & Mingle, Thursday, December 3, 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Community Resource Center's 10th annual holiday fundraiser supports its year-round services and its 44th Annual Holiday Baskets program. Tickets must be bought by November 17. The event starts at the minute the crews' scheduled weekday ends.

Solana Beach Civic & Historical Society Holiday Luncheon, Friday, December 4, noon to 2 p.m. Reservations are required by December 1. This one falls in the middle of a weekday, inside normal work hours. The City says the Christmas pause happens "around" the holiday, so before you drive over, check the project page to see what's active that week.

Before either event, the Society holds its 73rd Holiday Boutique on Saturday, November 14, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. at La Colonia Community Center, 715 Valley Avenue. Look for handmade gifts, a bake sale, quilts, poinsettias and Christmas cactus. It's west of the freeway and on a Saturday, so the corridor schedule doesn't affect it.

What the Finished Edges Add

When the cones come down, the corridor will have more than new paint. The project list on the City's project page includes:

• Reconstructed roadway and pavement
• Class II bike lanes in both directions
• A new north-side multi-use path and a new south-side sidewalk
• Decorative walls with seating areas, plus trash and recycling bins
• ADA-compliant curb ramps
• Storm drain and water-quality improvements
• Signing, striping and traffic signal changes

The staff report adds benches, decorative sidewalk paving, street light relocations and bioretention basins. The Union-Tribune also reported a new decorative retaining wall near Santa Helena and Las Banderas, at the west end of the job.

The City calls Lomas Santa Fe its primary east–west arterial, connecting to schools, parks, the library, transit and commercial areas. The FAQ describes the East project as the first phase of the larger corridor plan. The next phase, Lomas Santa Fe West, covers roughly I-5 to Highway 101, according to The Coast News. The Council timeline shows West design being finalized in 2027 with a $3.5 million SANDAG grant.

Douglas Alden, chair of BikeWalkSolana, has been involved since 2017. He summed up the next year for the Union-Tribune: "It's going to be a little bit of pain but a lot to gain." For week-by-week traffic updates, the City runs an email list you can sign up for, and it posts updates on the project page.

If you own a home near Lomas Santa Fe and want to know how the next year of corridor work fits your timing, FW Property Group can walk you through it street by street. Request your free home valuation and we'll start there.