City staff developed conceptual designs, which included rough layouts and traffic analysis information to show how southbound Carlsbad Boulevard from Manzano Drive to Island Way could be moved to the east based on the latest modeling of sea level rise and its hazards. The designs were developed to meet the following goals:

• Move and protect infrastructure from hazards caused by sea level rise
• Provide a safe and efficient roadway for all modes of travel
• Promote walking, biking and other forms of active transportation
• Slow down traffic along the coastline for safety

On June 20, 2023, city staff presented three road options to the City Council for consideration.

• The City Council selected a two-vehicle lane road with roundabouts.
• This design complies with the California Complete Streets Act and local policies that were previously approved by the City Council, including the General Plan’s Mobility Element, Sustainable Mobility Plan and Climate Action Plan.

Due to the requirements of the grant at this time, the project team is focused on changes to the roadway, not the land that could be repurposed as a result of moving the road to the east.

View the conceptual roadway options. 

In addition to a road design that moves infrastructure away from the coast, the grant funded the development of a plan for how and when these changes could be made.

A future step will include a policy decision regarding two options presented in the adaptive management plan:

Retreat now

• The “retreat now” option would move infrastructure away from the coast all at once, rather than incrementally, which could enhance the width of the beach at the Las Encinas Creek outfall segment.

Phased adaptation

• The phased adaptation option would move the southbound Carlsbad Boulevard vehicle lane to the east and repurpose the old road for walking and biking paths to be used as long as it is safe to do so.
• The walking and biking paths would be moved to the east as needed based on flooding, erosion and other signs of sea level rise over the next 96 years.

At this time, the city does not have an active project or funding to continue where the grant project left off. Because of this, it is not necessary to choose an adaptation approach now. If the City Council were to direct staff to proceed with the next steps of this project, staff would need to analyze additional information about the potential costs and benefits of the two approaches to help the City Council make an informed decision.

In May 2020, the Carlsbad City Council accepted grant funds from the California State Coastal Conservancy to further study cliff erosion and help increase resilience to sea level rise and coastal storms by planning the future of cliff re-use and relocation of South Carlsbad Boulevard.

The Coastal Conservancy is a state agency, established in 1976, to protect and improve natural lands and waterways, to help people get to and enjoy the outdoors, and to sustain local economies along California’s coast.

The Conservancy has played a critical role in shaping California’s coastal landscape as we know it today. Since its creation, the Conservancy has built hundreds of miles of trails and preserved hundreds of thousands of acres of wildlife habitat, coastal farmland, and scenic open space. 

Through this grant, the Center for Climate Change Adaptation and Impacts (CCCIA) at Scripps Institution of Oceanography is a key partner and will be intimately involved in the project, providing data results of their studies and rigorous scientific analysis and predictions of cliff stability in the face of sea-level rise and coastal storms.

CCCIA will leverage its historic data on Carlsbad cliffs to evaluate past erosion rates and perform additional analysis on recent extreme cliff failures in the region to serve as indicators of possible future conditions.  CCCIA will also leverage State Park funded high resolution laser imagery of Carlsbad cliffs to evaluate cliff stability and develop more effective cliff erosion.

The total grant amount is $533,175.

South Carlsbad Boulevard has a history of erosion and instability near Las Encinas Creek. The city has had to close this section of the roadway, including at the Las Encinas Bridge, during coastal storms, rending this part of the coastline inaccessible. This poses a safety concern because emergency vehicles have to take a longer route to get to nearby homes and businesses and is an inconvenience to those traveling south along the coast. 

In response to flooding, the city extended rock barricades twice under an emergency permit approved by the California Coastal Commission. Most recently in 2016, the city placed rock shoreline protection during periods of high surf that led to partial closure of the roadway and emergency repair work. The California Coastal Commission issued a coastal development permit on Dec. 29, 2015, which was extended in March 2024.

As a condition of the emergency permit, the Coastal Commission required the city to pursue a more permanent solution. The California Coastal Conservancy grant project provided the first step toward developing that solution.

Staff submitted an amendment request to the California Coastal Commission on March 14, 2024, for a five-year extension to pursue additional grants and studies to complete the design, permitting and construction of a lasting solution. If the extension is not approved and the rock barrier is removed prior to the realignment of the infrastructure, this segment of Carlsbad Boulevard would likely experience heavy erosions and would need to be closed once critically damaged.

Sea level rise

This area is subject to continual flooding and bluff erosion. In December 2017, the city completed a Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Assessment, which categorized South Carlsbad Blvd as a high-risk exposure area. Years of extreme storms pose a high risk in the coming decades due to road closures that can result in traffic delays, emergency service delays and loss of evacuation routes along this critical north-south road. Damage to Carlsbad Blvd in the future would also likely result in higher repair costs.

Through a unique partnership with the California State Coastal Conservancy, these bluffs are being analyzed to evaluate how wave-driven storms, run-off and cliff slope and composition affect the stability and erosion of different sections of this stretch of Carlsbad’s cliffs. The map below shows a preliminary analysis of the extent of cliff erosion for a portion of the project area.  More results can be found in the Interim Coastal Hazard Layers Memo.

City staff completed the following work products as part of the grant project:

• A conceptual design of the realigned roadway
• An adaptive management plan that includes a decision framework for when to move segments of south Carlsbad Boulevard based on the anticipated coastal hazards caused by sea level rise 

• South Carlsbad Boulevard cliff erosion assessment report

• Las Encinas Creek habitat restoration alternatives analysis

The cliff erosion assessment and the habitat restoration analysis helped inform the road design and management plan. 

Sea level rise adaptation is still a relatively new discipline, so the city will need more data before further developing options. Staff plan to request funding in next year’s budget for the next set of studies.

Knowing that any work along the coastline will be expensive, the City Council asked staff to return with information about climate resilience districts. This is a tool cities can use to raise revenue, plan climate mitigation or adaptation projects, and implement those projects. Districts can be created to address sea level rise, extreme heat, extreme cold, and the risk of wildfire, drought and flooding.

Another consideration when determining next steps is the status of the larger south Carlsbad Boulevard project. The City Council may wish to consider changes to the 1-mile segment addressed in the grant project in context with the entire south Carlsbad Boulevard corridor.

That project is currently included in the city’s Capital Improvement Program and initial community engagement has been completed. At this time, the City Council has not directed staff to proceed with the next steps, which would include preliminary design and engineering of the 3-mile corridor, along with additional community engagement.

April 23, 2024 | City Council
Received a report on how the 1-mile segment of south Carlsbad Boulevard could be managed to protect people, the environment and infrastructure from the effects of anticipated sea level rise, and asked staff to return with information about climate resilience districts.

April 2, 2024 | Beach Preservation Commission
Received a report on how the 1-mile segment of south Carlsbad Boulevard could be managed to protect people, the environment and infrastructure from the effects of anticipated sea level rise, and recommended the option to move infrastructure away from the coast all at once. 

June 20, 2023 | City Council
Approved the two-lane road with roundabouts option to move forward with completing the State Coastal Conservancy grant, which includes a 30% design of the roadway.  

June 6, 2023 | Beach Preservation Commission
Recommended taking a position of preference over one of the roadway options, selecting the two-lane road with roundabouts option. 

June 5, 2023 | Traffic & Mobility Commission
Received a report on traffic study results and recommended two-lane road with roundabouts option to the City Council. 

June 6, 2023 | Beach Preservation Commission 
Voted to take a position of preference, the roundabout option, to the City Council as the preferred design to complete the grant requirements, with a note to weigh in on climate adaptation options when that decision is made. 

June 5, 2023 | Traffic & Mobility Commission
Recommended roundabout option to the City Council as the preferred design to complete the grant requirements. 

Dec. 7, 2022 | Beach Preservation Commission
Discussed taking a position of preference on one of the preliminary conceptual roadway options for the South Carlsbad Boulevard Climate Adaptation Project.

Sept. 13, 2022 | City Council
Received an update on the south Carlsbad coastline project including the climate adaptation project, community input and next steps for the grant. 

Aug. 18, 2022 | Beach Preservation Commission
Received an update on the south Carlsbad coastline project and south Carlsbad Boulevard Climate Adaptation project roadway options. 

Aug. 17, 2022 | Planning Commission
Received an update on the south Carlsbad coastline project and south Carlsbad Boulevard Climate Adaptation project roadway options. 

July 18, 2022 | Parks & Recreation Commission
Received an update on the south Carlsbad coastline project and south Carlsbad Boulevard Climate Adaptation project roadway options. 

April 14, 2022 | Beach Preservation Commission
Received a project update on creating coastal spaces for the future use of south Carlsbad Boulevard. 

March 21, 2022 | Parks & Recreation Commission
Received a project update on creating coastal spaces for the future use of south Carlsbad Boulevard. 

Feb. 7, 2022 | Traffic & Mobility Commission
Received feedback on the values, needs, and priorities for the future use of south Carlsbad Boulevard.

Sept. 21, 2021 | City Council
Received a report about public engagement for the south Carlsbad Boulevard vision and design of the climate adaptation project.

Sept. 14, 2021 | City Council
Approved appropriation of climate adaptation grant funds to include the analysis of the Encinas Creek restoration and directed staff on the public outreach process.

June 16, 2020 | City Council 
City Council adopted an agreement with GHD, Inc for the South Carlsbad Boulevard Climate Adaptation Project

May 5, 2020 | City Council 
City Council accepted grant funds from the California State Coastal Conservancy for the South Carlsbad Boulevard Climate Adaptation Project