Mission Avenue Improvement Project to Begin in September

The $3-million project to improve Mission Avenue, reduce the traffic lanes and turn it into a one-way street will begin in September and finish the following May, the monthly meeting of MainStreet Oceanside was told Tuesday.

A larger-than-usual crowd of about four-dozen people attended the meeting and heard Nathan Mertz, a city capital-improvements manager and John Helmer, Downtown Area Manager talk about Mission Avenue.

Mertz said the plans call for access to businesses along Mission to be open at all times.

The first phase of the project, Mertz said, will improve the roadway between Horne Street and Coast Highway.

The plans, Mertz said, call for taking the current four lanes - two in each direction - and reducing them to just two lanes total - westbound.

Sidewalks will be widened, he said, varying in width from 5 to 30 feet.

There will be improved lighting, signals and street trees, a new bicycle lane, decorative crosswalks and some street furniture, Mertz said.

"I'm always concerned," Rick Wright, MainStreet Oceanside Executive Director said, "about whether we're ready for street furniture."

But Mertz said it will be more like tables and chairs, and there won't be benches long enough for transients to sleep on. The number of transients in the area is expected to decrease if the soup kitchen at Mary, Star of the Sea Catholic Church closes.

Mertz said the project is receiving $1.5 million in a grant from the San Diego Association of Governments and $1.5 million in redevelopment tax income.

"One of the first things," Mertz said, will be to remove all the striping so that "one day the road will go in two directions, and the next morning, it will be one-way." He explained that eastbound traffic will be diverted to two one-way lanes on Seagaze Drive.

—MainStreet Oceanside

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