Improvements coming to Carlsbad’s bluff-top promenade

Wider sidewalks with new handrails, lighting and stairways to the beach are a step closer for Carlsbad’s popular blufftop promenade.

Updated plans for the 10-block stretch along the west side of Carlsbad Boulevard between Tamarack and Pine avenues were presented Monday to the city’s Traffic and Mobility Commission, which recommended the City Council’s approval.

Built in the 1980s and badly deteriorated by the salt air, the scenic walkway remains one of North County’s favorite attractions for residents and tourists. Lately, though, the four sets of stairways and landings down to the serpentine seawall along the beach have lost their luster, with peeling paint, crumbling concrete steps and exposed, rusting rebar.

Construction is expected to start by early 2025 and could be completed in about 20 months, said Hossein Ajideh, the city’s engineering manager. Public access to the beach will be maintained throughout the work.

The sidewalk between Pine and Maple avenues, now only 3 feet and 10 inches wide, will be extended by almost 8 feet to the west. More than 6 feet of the increase will be from extending the cantilevered concrete slab supported by piles farther out over the bluff. About 1 foot and 5 inches will come from removing a guardrail on the sidewalk at the side of the road.

Between Maple and Cherry avenues, the existing 8-foot, 9-inch sidewalk will be widened 17 inches without going over the bluff.

In both sections the sidewalk s...