"The tractor did not start its engine for three weeks and sat in front of Avocado Street with no movement." That's Jeff Schade, owner of Leucadia Cyclery, speaking to The Coast News this summer. He's describing the piece of equipment he jokingly hung a six-foot sign on back in February. His shop sits at 1900 N. Coast Highway 101, just south of La Costa Avenue. That puts it right inside the stretch the City of Encinitas calls Segment C.
The City's project status page still gives a finish of "late Fall 2026" for the Jupiter Street to La Costa Avenue segment, which started construction in March 2024. Most of the talk about the finished street has been about trees and streetlights. The change that matters most for a quick coffee or bike-shop stop is the pair of roundabouts, because they bring back a place to turn around partway up the stretch.
Why the U-Turn Became the Whole Story
The Coast News reported in July that Segment C carries an estimated $32 million price tag. It was originally supposed to be done by summer 2025. Then the City Council approved a new storm drain system, and the timeline grew by about a year and a half, according to Engineering Director Dan Nutter. For the whole Leucadia Streetscape, which broke ground in January 2021, the paper put the total cost at more than $65 million.
What construction did to the corridor's businesses was mostly an access problem. Stacy Reddell, executive director of the Leucadia 101 MainStreet Association, told The Coast News that the 20 businesses she surveyed saw average sales declines of 25% to 40% over the prior year. In that same report, Leucadia Donut Shoppe owner Tom Chu explained why. Northbound customers couldn't easily reach his shop, so many kept driving to La Costa Avenue to make a U-turn. Reddell said that missing closer U-turn had a big effect up and down the corridor.
That's the problem the finished design is meant to fix. The City's North Highway 101 project page lists "New Roundabouts for Improved Traffic Flow and U-Turn Opportunities" as one of the corridor's planned benefits. The City's Segment C FAQ, updated October 7, 2026, puts those two roundabouts at Jupiter Street and Grandview Street. Grandview falls roughly midway along the segment. Once it's open, a northbound driver who passes a shop will be able to loop back there. Today that driver keeps going to La Costa.
Where Each Piece Lands
The FAQ lays out the finished layout by location. Here's how it maps onto the street:
| Location | What the finished Segment C puts there |
|---|---|
| Jupiter Street | City roundabout with crosswalk connections |
| Avocado Street | New signalized pedestrian crossing |
| Grandview Street | City roundabout with crosswalk connections |
| Bishop's Gate Road | New and improved crosswalks |
| West side of the highway | Added parking |
| Along the corridor | Wider sidewalks, new streetlights |
| Center median | New trees with irrigation |
| Both directions | One auto lane and one buffered bike lane each way |
The lane count stays where it was before construction. According to the FAQ, the project keeps "a single, dedicated auto travel lane and buffered bike lane in each direction." The City says the roundabouts will cut the time drivers spend stopped at signals and stop signs, and that slower speeds will discourage cut-through traffic.
If you ride, the bike lane is marked the whole way except inside the roundabouts. There, the City says cyclists can use the sidewalk or take the full lane "just like a vehicle." The streetlights are historic-style fixtures, meant to support people walking and crossing at night.
The tree numbers are bigger than many people expect. The City's Segment C tree FAQ counts 22 trees and three stumps removed, with 148 new trees to be planted. Species under consideration include Torrey pine, western redbud, strawberry tree, jacaranda and coast live oak. That works out to more than six new trees for every one removed. It goes a long way toward the "historic tree canopy" the City has named as the project's purpose since it started in 2007.
Parking is the thinnest part of the published plan. The FAQ commits to "adding parking on the west side" but doesn't give a count. That still matters to places like The Leucadian. Co-owner David Shapiro told The Coast News that losing street parking during construction discouraged customers from booking events there.
The Businesses on the Other Side of the Barricades
Better access only pays off if people use it. These are some of the places on the Leucadia corridor that kept their doors open through the construction, with addresses from the Leucadia 101 MainStreet directory and The Coast News:
- Leucadia Donut Shoppe, 1604 N. Coast Highway 101. This is the shop whose northbound customers have been driving to La Costa just to turn around.
- Tribe Coffee Culture, 1650 N. Coast Highway 101.
- The Leucadian, 1542 N. Coast Highway 101. It's a bar that also books events.
- Fish 101, 1468 N. Coast Highway 101.
- Caves Wine Bar & Shop, in the commercial building at 1410 N. Coast Highway 101.
- Sip-N-Sea, a coffee and açaí bowl shop that serves from a walk-up window. Owner Giuseppe Georgees appears in The Coast News' July photos standing at the window behind the construction barriers.
- Leucadia Cyclery, 1900 N. Coast Highway 101, a bike shop and service center near La Costa.
From Grandview's location on the map, a roundabout there should put the 1400 to 1600 blocks within one loop of either direction. That's the stretch with Fish 101, The Leucadian, the donut shop and Tribe.
The last few weeks will be the closest the work gets to these storefronts. In the July report, Nutter said sidewalk and road work would be "up close and personal" with businesses during the final months. He also said the project was only about a month behind schedule. The City's September update says crews are building curbs, gutters, sidewalks and driveways, and that driveway and business access will be maintained throughout.
What Still Won't Be Finished This Fall
Segment C is one piece of a 2.5-mile corridor. Designs are complete for Segment B, Basil Street to Jupiter Street, and Segment A1, A Street to Marcheta Street. The Coast News reported that neither has construction funding yet. Heading south from Jupiter, the new layout ends and the older one picks up again.
Crossing the tracks is still a longer wait. The City's Leucadia rail crossings page says the CPUC approved pedestrian crossings at Phoebe Street and Grandview Street. In June 2026 the City set aside another $300,000 for final engineering, but there's no construction date yet.
If you planned to walk from the new Grandview roundabout down to the sand, there's one more thing to know. The Coast News reported that Grandview Beach access at 1700 Neptune Avenue has been closed since a September 18 bluff failure just north of the staircase. The City has no reopening estimate and is directing beachgoers to Beacon's or Ponto. Beacon's Beach is at 948 Neptune Avenue. North and South Ponto are part of South Carlsbad State Beach, which starts at La Costa Avenue.
For a Sunday errand away from the cones, the Leucadia Farmers Market runs every week from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oak Crest Middle School, 675 Balour Drive. Blue Pacific Engineering and Construction, the Segment C contractor, has been working on the corridor since early 2024. The City's FAQ says the job runs through Fall 2026.
I've walked a lot of job sites, so I tend to watch how a street like this actually works once the crews leave. If you're thinking about how the new Leucadia corridor affects a home or property near Coast Highway 101, I'm happy to walk it with you. Ben Smith | Start Your Home Journey: Book a Free Consultation.
