Project Overview 

The Laguna Canyon Road: Protect & Connect project aims to improve safety for all users, enhance sustainability, and manage congestion along one of the only direct routes to Laguna Beach - the Laguna Canyon Road (LCR) corridor (SR-133). The project is focused on addressing safety concerns, plans to underground utilities, and considering multi-modal transportation options. This corridor provides residents, businesses, and visitors critical access to the city from Interstate 405 (I-405) and State Route 73 (SR 73) and serves as an evacuation route.

Features being considered include:

  • Underground utilities
  • Bikeways and pedestrian paths
  • Improved crossings
  • Signal enhancements
  • Enhanced transit and trolley stops
  • Native and low-water use landscaping

Project Goals

  • Improve safety by removing utility poles and undergrounding the overhead utility lines, which will eliminate the potential source of wildfire, improve overall aesthetics and remove obstacles to reduce collision potential.
  • Provide multi-modal improvements that will encourage use of the corridor by pedestrians, transit users and bicyclists of all ages and abilities.
  • Develop innovative solutions to improve traffic flow without adding roadway capacity.

Spring 2024 Community Outreach Overview

Spring 2024 of the Laguna Canyon Road: Protect & Connect project prioritized public engagement. The goal during this phase was to inform the community about the project and to gather input from residents, local businesses, community members, and out-of-town visitors on preliminary roadway improvement concepts, including an off-street bike path or on-street bike lanes. Feedback included general community preferences, concerns, and other suggestions for Laguna Canyon Road.
 
February through June 2024 featured a range of outreach activities, including an online survey, six (6) pop-up events, multiple stakeholder meetings, door-to-door business outreach, and a community workshop. Different methods of collecting input were employed depending on the outreach setting. For instance, some of the stakeholder meetings and the community workshop involved a presentation of background and conceptual features via PowerPoint, followed by discussions where attendees shared their preferences, ideas, issues, and concerns. A complete summary of the in-person outreach can be downloaded at the above “Outreach Summary” button.


Throughout the outreach process, an online survey remained active to gather demographic statistics about primary road users and to collect any open-ended thoughts about the project. The survey was open from the beginning of March through May 31, 2024. At closing, 2,672 responses were captured.  A complete summary of the online survey can be downloaded at the above “Online Survey Results” button.

Community Workshop

The City hosted a community workshop on May 7, 2024 to deliver a presentation and to discuss the Laguna Canyon Road project. More than 80 residents attended and provided feedback to the project team. A copy of the presentation and a recording of the meeting are available using the links below.

Summer-Fall 2024 Community Outreach Overview

Additional community outreach is now underway. This phase provides an opportunity to review and share thoughts on more specific design concepts developed based on the cumulative feedback from earlier engagement and project analysis.

Community Open House

The City hosted a community open house on September 5, 2024, to share more detailed improvement concepts for Laguna Canyon Road based on additional engineering analysis and public input to date. Several stations were set up for participants to explore details of the two options being explored and an online survey was available for comments on design details.  Comment cards were also made available.  Copies of the materials shared at the open house are available using the link below.

Farmers Market Pop-up

A tabling event at the Farmers Market was held on Saturday, August 31.  Over 200 people stopped by the table to learn about the project and provide input.   Sixty-six participants who visited the booth expressed support for the off-street bike path option.  Three expressed support of the on-street lanes, and a few didn’t like any options. The remaining participants enjoyed hearing about the options and thought either would be an improvement or wanted more time to think.

Check this page often to learn about upcoming events and project updates. Bookmark this page and follow @lagunabeachgov on social media to get involved and stay up to date with the project.

History and Background
Project Timeline
Project Boundaries

Project Documents