"I would like to see a clear path to the end of the game," Leucadia Cyclery owner Jeff Schade told The Coast News this summer. He was standing about 10 feet from the Streetscape work zone outside his shop on North Coast Highway 101.
That was July. In October, the path is shorter but still doesn't have a date on it. That turns out to describe most of north Leucadia this fall. The big drain pipes are already underground. The Grandview beach stairs were refurbished and signed off by the City. Two new rail crossings have their funding. Even so, a walk from Jupiter Street to the sand still runs into cones, fencing or plans that aren't built yet. What you can count on this season is the row of businesses that stayed open the whole time.
The finish line moved, and the reason is underground
Segment C of the Leucadia Streetscape covers North Coast Highway 101 from Jupiter Street to La Costa Avenue. Construction started in March 2024. The City's project page, updated September 17, 2026, now expects it to wrap up in "late Fall 2026." In late July, Director of Engineering Dan Nutter gave The Coast News a target of October and said the project was only about a month behind.
Segment C was first scheduled to finish by summer 2025. It grew after the City Council approved extra drainage work, including a new storm drain system. Nutter said that addition pushed the schedule out by about a year and a half.
That buried work is mostly done. According to the City, all of the 60-inch, 66-inch and 36-inch storm drainpipe is in. Crews are now on the smaller connections: cleanout boxes, storm drain laterals, inlets, water service laterals and the water main between Jupiter and La Costa. South of La Costa, on the west side of the highway, they're building new curb, gutter, sidewalk, a bus pad, a bus shelter pad and driveways.
So late fall is mostly about the street-level work: concrete, connections and the edge of the road you actually walk on. The City still expects intermittent lane shifts, noise, dust, lighting and large construction vehicles. It also says driveway and business access will stay open.
How Segment C fits the longer project
The Streetscape broke ground in January 2021. The Coast News, citing state loan documents, puts the total cost at more than $65 million, with about $32 million of that for Segment C. The earlier phases are already part of the daily drive:
- 2022: Segment A2 finished roadway and sidewalk work and planted new street trees from Marcheta Street to Basil Street.
- 2023: The City added new striping, a bike lane and median changes between Basil Street and La Costa Avenue, plus flashing crosswalks at Diana Street and North Court.
- 2024 to late fall 2026: Segment C, from Jupiter Street to La Costa Avenue.
- Not yet scheduled: Segment B, Basil to Jupiter, and Segment A1, A Street to Marcheta. Their preliminary designs are done, but construction funding hasn't been secured.
Kevin Doyle, treasurer of the Leucadia 101 MainStreet Association, noted that the project was first proposed in 2008. So finishing Segment C won't finish the corridor. It will finish the northern end, and the middle stretch will look the way it does now until funding comes through.
The shops that kept their doors open through it
Nearly everything in Segment C's footprint stayed open during construction. Some of it has been harder to get to. Stacy Reddell, executive director of the Leucadia 101 Mainstreet Association, told The Coast News that sales fell an average of 25% to 40% over the past year among the 20 businesses she surveyed. These are the places named in that reporting, along with the practical details that make them easier to reach right now.
Leucadia Donut Shoppe. Owner Tom Chu said many northbound customers have had to keep driving to La Costa Avenue and make a U-turn to get back to him. If you're coming from the south, expect that loop.
Sip-N-Sea. You order at a walk-up window on the front of the building. Owner Giuseppe Georgees said he was told trenching would start in front of his shop in November 2025, and as of late July it hadn't. The City added temporary orange barricades in front of the business.
Leucadia Cyclery. There's no defined sidewalk in front of the shop yet. Schade put flashing red bike lights where the southbound lane narrows and LED lighting along his eaves. He described the stretch between The Leucadian Bar and Avocado Street as "pitch black" at night.
The Leucadian. Co-owner David Shapiro said losing street parking has cut into event bookings, and he also acknowledged that the road and drainage work is needed.
Surfhouse Hotel and Coffee Coffee. Co-owner Nikolas Harth runs both on North Coast Highway 101. He said he supports the drainage upgrades and would like the City to explain their long-term benefits more fully.
The City told The Coast News it plans more signs pointing pedestrians to designated crossings and showing drivers where U-turns are allowed. It also plans community meetings with Leucadia 101 Mainstreet that will continue until the project is done. Several owners said they support the project and want it finished as soon as possible. Schade said he'd like the City to hold a community celebration at the end to bring customers back.
Grandview: refurbished in May, closed in September
The same pattern shows up at the beach. The Grandview Beach Access is at the north end of Neptune Avenue. It's a multi-level timber and concrete stairway that was last rebuilt in the fall of 1992. A refurbishment that replaced components flagged in a 2018 structural inspection started February 3, 2026. The work was substantially finished on May 22, and the stairs reopened in time for Memorial Day weekend. The City Council accepted the Notice of Completion on August 12.
Five weeks after that sign-off, early on September 18, part of the bluff just north of the staircase gave way. No one was hurt. The City put up fencing and signs at the entry and closed access because of the potential for more failures within 300 feet north and south of the stairs. The section north of the staircase where the collapse happened is maintained by California State Parks.
"At this time, we do not have an estimate for when we can safely reopen entry to the beach at Grandview and are directing beachgoers to avoid the area and access the beach at Beacons or Ponto Beaches." City spokesperson Jessica Gilera, to The Coast News, September 2026
We haven't found a reopening announcement since that September 21 report. Until one comes out, Beacons and Ponto are the City's suggested alternatives for anyone who usually walks down at Grandview.
Next up is planned, funded, and on paper
The next projects for north Leucadia's daily routes are now funded. In August, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported that Encinitas won $33.6 million in federal rail-corridor grants. The money covers new pedestrian crossings at Grandview and Phoebe in Leucadia, a train-horn quiet zone from E Street to Leucadia Boulevard, and a Verdi Avenue undercrossing in Cardiff. As of that August 20 report, design of the Leucadia crossings was about 70% complete. That puts a future crossing at Grandview, a beach access point that is closed this month. The report gave design progress, not an opening date.
A bit inland, the Quail Gardens Park site is in the same planning stage. The 9.459-acre parcel straddles Quail Gardens Drive in the valley between Encinitas Boulevard and Leucadia Boulevard. The City bought it in 1998 and has held it as open space for a possible future park. Design and permitting started in January 2026.
Public Workshop #3 is Tuesday, October 6, 2026, from 6 to 7:30 p.m., at the Encinitas Community & Senior Center Banquet Hall, 1140 Oakcrest Park Drive. The City has also posted an online comment form. Of everything in this post, it's the only one you can take part in this week.
A Leucadia fall routine that works around the cones
For the next few weeks, plan the North 101 parts of your week around access rather than around the map.
- Sunday mornings: The Leucadia Farmers Market, run by Leucadia 101, is listed every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oak Crest Middle School, 675 Balour Drive. It's away from the highway work zone.
- Coffee and errands on 101: Coming from the south, the turnaround is at La Costa Avenue. Walking, use the designated crossings the City is adding signs for.
- Dinner just south of the work zone: Leu Leu, at 466 N. Coast Highway 101, opened in February 2025.
- Beach access: Use Beacons or Ponto until the City announces that Grandview has reopened.
- October 31: Downtown's Safe Trick-or-Treat runs from 5 to 8 p.m. on South Coast Highway 101. This year it adds free family arts activities and evening parking at Pacific View Arts Center.
The City's North Highway 101 project page is the one to check for Segment C's actual finish. Its last update was September 17.
If you own a home near North Coast Highway 101 and want to talk through how a finished Segment C, the Grandview and Phoebe crossings, or the quiet zone could affect your own plans, I'm glad to go through it with you. Renée Burnette follows these Leucadia projects as they progress. Let's Connect.
