City of Laguna Beach Completes Phase 1 Village Entrance Project

The City of Laguna Beach is pleased to announce the completion of Phase 1 of the Village Entrance Project, a project focused on providing enhanced pedestrian safety, improved traffic flow and new public open space. The project site is located along Laguna Canyon Road from Forest Avenue to Art-A-Fair. For details on the Phase 1 completion of the project, click here: Village Entrance Project Newsletter

“This newly renovated area brings beauty and an environmentally friendly design to our Civic Arts District with parking, walkways, benches, bike racks and green space to be enjoyed by residents, downtown business patrons and visitors to our summer festivals,” said Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen.

Two new parking lots, Lot 10 (adjacent to Art-A-Fair) & Lot 11 (at the corner of Forest Avenue and Broadway) were completed during Phase 1 of the project and are now open for public use. Additional Village Entrance Project elements completed during Phase 1 include wide multi-use trails along Laguna Canyon Road, decorative lighting, extensive landscaped planting areas, new vehicular and pedestrian bridges and water quality features such as basins and permeable pavers. The project will now break for the summer of 2019 and resume in September of 2019 with an expected completion by summer of 2020.

“When the Village Entrance project is complete in June 2020, it will provide a total of 370 vehicle parking spaces, along with eight motorcycle and 104 bicycle parking spaces,” said Shohreh Dupuis, Assistant City Manager and Director of Public Works. “The Village Entrance Project’s new bridges, wider walking trails and paved access roads will improve pedestrian, bicyclist and driver safety at one of the busiest intersections in town and address a need to improve this area that has been debated for more than 30 years.”

Village Entrance Project Phase I highlights include:

- Wide multi-use trails made from decorative concrete and decomposed granite to create a pedestrian-friendly environment, including many bicycle racks and rammed-earth seat wall benches

- Extensive landscaping throughout the site, including the planting of 75 new trees, 3,250 shrubs and 50 flats of ground cover

- Upgraded decorative fencing along the drainage channel to replace the chain link fence

- New wider vehicle bridge and a new pedestrian bridge at Lot 10 that will improve vehicle access, parking circulation and better separate vehicles from pedestrians and cyclists

- Two electric vehicle charging stations in Lot 11

“The Laguna Beach Public Works Department has worked tirelessly on the first phase of this project and has ensured its completion on time and on budget,” said Laguna Beach City Manager John Pietig.

To sign up for our newsletter on project activities, visit www.lagunabeachcity.net/villageentranceor email us at villageentrance@lagunabeachcity.net.