Did you pull into the Tamarack Avenue beach lot recently and find it fenced off? Did you then walk north and find the Hemlock stairway taped shut, and later bike south only to lose the bike lane past Solamar Drive? Each of these closures has its own cause.
Three separate repair efforts are now running along Carlsbad's busiest piece of coastline, and two different agencies are behind them. The state owns the parking lot. The city owns the stairs and the bluff work to the south. Each has its own calendar, so the work will wrap up in stages. The first repairs are targeted for around the turn of the year and the last by summer 2027.
Start at Tamarack, where the state is in charge
Most of Carlsbad's beach isn't the city's to fix. The San Diego Union-Tribune reported on Oct. 5 that the state Parks Department owns and maintains about six of Carlsbad's seven miles of coastline. The exception is the northernmost mile near the Oceanside border.
That makes the Tamarack Avenue beach lot, which is popular with surfers and beachgoing families, a state job. According to the same Union-Tribune report, the lot has been closed to vehicles since the high tides and storm-surge waves of Labor Day weekend. Chunks of asphalt on its seaward edge washed away even though a barrier of boulders had been placed to protect it.
A coastal engineer has been hired to plan the repairs. Parks Lt. Sean Homer told the Carlsbad Environmental Sustainability Commission that bids would go out within about a month and that the work should be finished by the end of December. Until then, a morning surf or a sunset walk starting at Tamarack means parking somewhere else.
The beach itself is still open. California State Parks lists Carlsbad State Beach as open with restrictions, running along Carlsbad Boulevard at Tamarack and from Pine Avenue to Cannon Road. Its listed facilities include restrooms, showers and outdoor showers.
The seawall between Tamarack and Pine belongs to the city's schedule
The concrete promenade north of Tamarack runs on a different arrangement. Under an agreement with the state, the city maintains certain stretches to a higher standard than the state otherwise would, chiefly the seawall between Tamarack and Pine avenues. The city handles the landscaping, benches and restrooms there.
This stretch is also where the city's beach stairs replacement and sidewalk widening project is underway. Four stairways along Carlsbad Boulevard between Hemlock and Pine avenues are being replaced. The originals date to the 1980s, and in places the concrete has chipped away to expose rebar, with visible corrosion and soil eroded from some foundations. The new stairs use corrosion-resistant precast concrete and are expected to last about 50 years. The handrails will be replaced with similar railings that add downward-facing lights.
Crews took the summer off on purpose. The project schedule rules out construction between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Patch reported on Sept. 10 that work had resumed.
Here's where each access point stood in the city's most recent updates:
| Access point | Status in latest city updates | What's next |
|---|---|---|
| Hemlock Avenue stairway | Closed | New stairs and railings being finished first |
| Cherry Avenue stairway | Closed | New stairs and railings being finished first |
| Maple Avenue stairway | Listed as open | Demolition and rebuild scheduled to start in fall 2026 |
| Sycamore Avenue stairway | Listed as open | Demolition and rebuild scheduled to start in fall 2026 |
| Pine Avenue ramp | Open | Separate ADA access project in design |
| Tamarack Avenue ramp | Open | Separate ADA access project in design |
| Grass area south of Hemlock | Open | City says it stays open throughout |
The city's Aug. 27 update said the next phase would start by finishing the stairs and railings at Cherry and Hemlock, and only then move on to replacing the stairs at Maple and Sycamore. The dated reports through September don't confirm that Maple and Sycamore have closed. When they do, the stairs that are closed today should be the ones reopening. The city has committed to keeping at least two beach stairways between Tamarack and Pine open for the entire project.
The city lists the remaining construction window as fall 2026 through spring 2027, and the Aug. 27 update puts the overall finish at summer 2027. As for the two ramps, the city describes the separate ADA access project near Pine and Tamarack as still in design, with construction possibly a few years away.
What the work zone does to Carlsbad Boulevard
The stairs project also changes the road above them. Through the work area, Carlsbad Boulevard is down to one car lane in each direction, the speed limit drops to 20 mph, and some street parking is restricted. Bike lanes stay in place with occasional detours.
Parts of the west-side sidewalk will close from time to time. When they do, the city points walkers to the lower seawall or the sidewalk on the east side of the boulevard. The first phase has already paid off. Between Pine and Cherry avenues the sidewalk over the cliff is now 2½ feet wider, and the city held off on fall work partly so people could enjoy it over the summer.
The work hours are the most useful detail for planning. Crews are scheduled Monday through Friday, 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., with no work on federal holidays. Weekend walks and weekday sunset walks fall outside the crews' schedule, although the closed stairways and lane shifts stay in place around the clock.
South of Tamarack, the city declared an emergency
The third repair started most recently and is moving fastest. A geotechnical report recommended emergency stabilization for part of the coastal bluff along south Carlsbad Boulevard, just north of the bridge at Las Encinas Creek. The city declared a local emergency on Sept. 9 to speed up the work, citing the need to protect the road ahead of potentially strong El Niño conditions.
The city's Oct. 9 construction update describes trucks delivering boulders that each weigh two to six tons, with a crane lowering them from the roadside to the beach. The city also posted a video of the process. Deliveries are expected to continue for several more weeks, and work on the revetment is expected to run through late 2026.
This is the closure cyclists feel most. The southbound bike lane on Carlsbad Boulevard between Solamar Drive and Island Way is temporarily closed, and the city asks drivers to allow extra time and share the road. If your regular ride heads south out of the Village, expect a shared lane on that stretch for the rest of the year.
A fall route built around all three
The full Carlsbad Boulevard Seawall Walk covers 1.9 miles from Tamarack Avenue up through the Village, along a seawall that one walking-map source dates to 1976. Most of it is still walkable. What's changed is where you can start, where you can step down to the sand, and where you can park. Here's one way to string it together while the three projects overlap:
- Start at Pine Avenue Community Park. The park at 3209 Harding St. has restrooms, picnic areas, a playground and gardens, which makes it a useful base at the north end of the work zone.
- Go down at the Pine ramp. The Pine and Tamarack ramps are both listed as open, so you can reach the sand at either end of the work zone.
- Walk the lower seawall south toward Tamarack. This is the city's suggested detour around closed upper sidewalk, and it keeps you below the boulevard while it's down to one car lane in each direction.
- Turn around at the Tamarack ramp. Going farther south puts you along the stretch of boulevard where the bike lane is closed for the bluff work.
- Finish at the Village end with breakfast. Kona Craft Café at 3001 Carlsbad Blvd., the former Daily News Café, won the Carlsbad Village Association's Best Brunch Bite award this year.
Two dates on the Village calendar will push more people toward the coast in the coming weeks. Halloween in the Village runs Saturday, Oct. 31, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., with trick-or-treating across the Village. The next morning, Sunday, Nov. 1, the Carlsbad Village Street Faire brings roughly 900 booths downtown from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with free shuttles from The Shoppes at Carlsbad and the Poinsettia Coaster Station. With the Tamarack lot still closed, those shuttles make faire day easier to manage than looking for parking near the beach.
The next date to watch after that is the end of December, when the state expects repairs at the Tamarack lot to be finished. No reopening date has been announced. The city's bluff revetment should finish around the same time, and the stairs between Hemlock and Pine stay on their own schedule into summer 2027.
At Colucci Co, we follow changes like these along the Carlsbad coast closely, because they shape daily routines and what buyers see when they walk a neighborhood. If you're thinking about how a stretch of coastline, a street or a home near the seawall fits your plans, book a complimentary consultation and we'll share what we know.
