Can You Dig It? Laguna Beach Road Work Starts Today

Just when summer tourist traffic dies down ... get ready for road construction traffic. Fun! Or not ...

A number of new projects in Laguna Beach are starting today and this week, according to the Laguna Beach city website (and those big orange electric warning signs that you've seen popping up all over town in the past two weeks). Among them:

Laguna Canyon Road Resurfacing – Caltrans starts resurfacing Laguna Canyon Road between Forest Avenue and the toll road today. The work is scheduled to be completed in early November, and most of the work will occur at night. Some work will take place during the day between Forest Avenue and Canyon Acres Drive, where there are fewer conflicts with businesses. The work involves grinding the road surface to remove about one inch of asphalt and then placing a new layer of asphalt.

Laguna Canyon Road Widening at El Toro Road: Also today, the County of Orange will be adding a second outbound traffic lane on Laguna Canyon Road at its intersection with El Toro Road. This added through lane is intended to allow more outbound vehicles through the intersection. The improvement is expected to improve movement through the intersection at peak hours for both outbound traffic on Laguna Canyon Road and inbound traffic on El Toro Road. Construction is scheduled to be completed in December. Work will take place during the day. The County is coordinating with CalTrans to avoid conflicts with the Caltrans Laguna Canyon Road Resurfacing project. Later phases of this project consist of widening the street north of El Toro Road and undergrounding the overhead utility lines.

Main Beach Sewer Lift Station – Meanwhile, at Main Beach, work starts today on construction of a new subterranean sewer lift station. The work will continue through May 2012. To accomodate the work, however, the well-used basketball courts will be closed beginning in mid-October. Booooo!

North Coast Highway Sidewalks – Up along Coast Highway, Caltrans today starts replacing broken sections of sidewalk. Work is expected to be done by the end of October.

Circle Way Storm Drain and Steps – Finally, the City begins construction this week on the Circle Way Storm Drain and Steps project, which will include a new 42” diameter storm drain, reconstruction of the steps to the beach, new irrigation, and new landscaping. The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of the year. Circle Way, which is a one-way street, will be completely closed at the top of the steps to the beach for the duration of the project. The street will be temporarily converted to a two-way street to facilitate ingress and egress on each side of the road closure.