You're driving north on Coast Highway 101 and want a donut from the shop on the far side of the median. How far do you have to go to get it? This summer, Leucadia Donut Shoppe owner Tom Chu told The Coast News that many of his northbound customers were driving all the way to La Costa Avenue to make a U-turn, and that his summer sales were down from prior years.

That detour explains most of what has made the north end of the corridor feel hard to use in 2026. The City of Encinitas lists "New Roundabouts for Improved Traffic Flow and U-Turn Opportunities" among the Leucadia Streetscape's intended benefits. Segment C has two of those roundabouts, at Jupiter Street and Moorgate Road. As of the City's most recent detailed update, only their east halves were finished. Until the west halves are done, the official turnaround at the north end of the stretch is La Costa Avenue.

What the east side already does

Segment C runs from Jupiter Street to La Costa Avenue, and construction there began in March 2024. The City's July 14 Streetscape update described the corridor as half finished, split down the median:

1. Northbound traffic was on new pavement from Jupiter Street to Moorgate Road, running through the east side of both roundabouts. That section had been complete "for a few months."
2. The northbound left and U-turn lane at La Costa Avenue was open.
3. Southbound traffic was expected to shift on July 23 into a newly paved lane beside the median.
4. Parking was available in the east-side parking pods wherever road construction was complete.
5. Curbside parking on the west side was temporarily restricted.

That same email said roundabout construction on the west side would continue through Summer 2026. The City's project page, updated September 17, doesn't say whether either roundabout now handles full two-way traffic or U-turns. It also doesn't say whether the west-side parking restriction from July has been lifted. It does say driveways and business access will be maintained, and that drivers should expect intermittent lane shifts. The La Costa U-turn lane and the east-side pods are the last access details the City has confirmed in writing.

Why the turnaround matters so much

The Leucadia 101 Mainstreet Association, the nonprofit that supports businesses on the corridor, has measured what this does to the businesses. Executive director Stacy Reddell told The Coast News that sales were down an average of 25% to 40% over the past year among the 20 businesses she surveyed. She said the lack of a closer U-turn had inconvenienced customers and significantly affected businesses along the corridor.

The same Coast News article quoted owners from along the corridor. Jeff Schade owns Leucadia Cyclery and sits on the Mainstreet board. Giuseppe Georgees runs the walk-up window at Sip-N-Sea. David Shapiro co-owns The Leucadian. Shapiro said he understood why the road and drainage work was needed, but that losing street parking had made customers hesitant to book events at The Leucadian.

"Revenue got stagnant as soon as the project started," Shapiro said.

Kevin Doyle, the Mainstreet treasurer and a former member of the city's Planning Commission, said that even a few months of construction can be devastating for small businesses that rely on daily foot traffic. Director of Engineering Dan Nutter said the project was only about a month behind schedule, which he called "pretty darn good" for a construction project this size.

Both views fit the plan. Once the roundabouts are finished, a northbound driver should be able to turn around at Jupiter or Moorgate and come back to a storefront without heading up to La Costa. The City's list of finished benefits also includes more parking on both sides of the highway and parking-assist lanes that leave room for delivery vehicles. Those are the City's stated goals for the corridor, and on this stretch they won't be in place until the west side is done.

The finish line has moved more than once

Each estimate below came from the City or its engineering director, and each one was given at a different point in the work.

Most of the delay comes from the drainage work. Nutter told The Coast News that the timeline grew by about a year and a half after the City Council approved additional drainage improvements, including a new storm drain system meant to reduce flooding along the corridor. That system is mostly in the ground now. The July update reported 3,585 linear feet of 60-inch storm drain pipe and 308 feet of 66-inch pipe completed. By September 17, the City reported that all of the 60-, 66- and 36-inch pipe was installed. City staff gave the City Council an update on construction on August 26, 2026.

Segment C alone is estimated to cost $32 million. The whole 2.5-mile Streetscape project, which broke ground in January 2021, costs more than $65 million, according to the reporting.

What's left this fall

The September 17 status describes two kinds of work still underway.

• Between Jupiter Street and La Costa Avenue: water and drainage infrastructure, including cleanout boxes, storm drain laterals, inlets, water service laterals and the water main.
• On the west side, just south of La Costa Avenue: new curb, gutter, sidewalk, bus pad, bus shelter pad and driveways.

The bus pads tie into a separate agreement. In June 2025 the City Council approved cost sharing with North County Transit District for seven new bus shelters on North Coast Highway 101. The rest of the finished Segment C is supposed to include wider sidewalks, dedicated bike lanes, new streetlights, a crosswalk and pedestrian signal at Avocado Street, new benches and bike racks, and hundreds of new trees.

Nutter said in July that the sidewalk and road work would be "up close and personal" with businesses over the next few months. That is the phase the corridor is in now. For the latest lane and parking details, the Streetscape outreach team can be reached at (760) 512-3800 or [email protected], and anyone can ask to be added to the project alert list. The City's North Highway 101 Projects page posts the official status.

Leucadia's big events already work around the construction zone

The two largest Leucadia 101 gatherings of the season have already been planned around the north end's access limits.

The Leucadia Farmers Market now meets every Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Oak Crest Middle School, 675 Balour Drive. It reopened there on June 21 after a one-week pause, four days after the City Council rejected an appeal of the relocation. The approval caps the market at 135 vendors. It also requires a 200-foot buffer from nearby homes, noise monitoring and additional no-parking signs in the neighborhood.

The 20th annual LeucadiART Walk took place on August 30, with about 100 artists along with live music and children's activities. Its parking plan was built on the finished parts of the project. Visitors were directed to the east-side parking pods from Marcheta Street to Grandview Avenue and to the La Costa Avenue Park-and-Ride, with a free open-air trolley connecting the stops. For anyone heading to a shop near the north end before the roundabouts are finished, the same approach applies. Park on the finished side, or come in from La Costa.

What comes after Segment C

When Segment C is finished, the Streetscape still won't be complete. Segment A2, from Marcheta Street to Basil Street, was finished in August 2022. Interim striping from Basil Street to La Costa Avenue, which added a lane reduction and dedicated bike lanes, was finished in August 2023. Segment B, from Basil Street to Jupiter Street, and Segment A1, from A Street to Marcheta Street, have finished preliminary designs, but the City says it still needs construction funding for both.

So the stretch from Basil to Jupiter keeps its 2023 interim striping for now. The Jupiter and Moorgate roundabouts are the only new turnarounds on the City's schedule.

If you own on or near North Coast Highway 101 and want to talk through how the end of construction could affect timing, parking access or the way a property shows, Robert Blank Realtor is glad to go over it with you using the latest City updates. Get in touch whenever it's useful.