Carlsbad to build additional 1-mile segment of Coastal Rail Trail

Construction is expected to start later this year and be completed in about seven months on an additional one-mile segment of the Coastal Rail Trail between Palomar Airport Road and the Poinsettia Coaster Station in Carlsbad.

“This city project will beautify and improve the middle stretch of Avenida Encinas, providing a uniform street width, complete street improvements, utility undergrounding and landscaping,” said Carlsbad Senior Planner Scott Donnell.

“Large gaps in the bike lanes and sidewalk systems will be completed, and mid-block pedestrian crossings with flashing beacons will be added,” Donnell said, in a recent presentation to the Carlsbad Planning Commission.

Avenida Encinas is a neighborhood street about four miles long. The segment of the street to be improved for the trail is between Palomar Airport Road and the Poinsettia Coaster Station.

The construction will include a retaining wall between the street and the eastern side of the railroad, Donnell said. The trail is about 1,000 feet from the coastline.

Longer-term plans call for the trail to continue south on Encinas Avenue until it links up with Carlsbad Boulevard, also known as Coast Highway 101, where it will connect with the trail in Encinitas.

The Coastal Rail Trail idea emerged in the 1990s as a plan for a 42-mile hiking and biking trail along the railroad tracks between the Oceanside Transit Center and the Santa Fe Depot in downtown San Diego.

Since the...