LAGUNA NIGUEL : City OKs Numerous Street Improvements

By the middle of next year, residents will notice freshly sealed roadways and new bike paths on some of the city’s busiest streets.

The City Council recently approved these improvement projects, which will cost more than $1 million in state, county and city funds.

This month, the city will take bids on a $730,000 street resurfacing project that will fill in cracks and slurry-seal about one-fifth of the city’s streets, said Ken Montgomery, director of public works.

Also, the city will hire a contractor to construct a bike path from Niguel Road near Club House Drive through Salt Creek Corridor Park to connect with an existing trail there.

“It is a recreational trail that will allow people to get close to a natural habitat,” Montgomery said.

The path will be about a mile long and will replace a dirt trail.

In addition, bike lanes will be painted along several busy sections of Street of the Golden Lantern, Moulton and Alicia parkways and other streets.

“Bike lanes on arterial streets are a safe alternative means of transportation, so that people can commute to work, and secondly for recreational purposes,” Montgomery said. “A number of those streets (currently) have no bike lane.”

The City Council will seek matching funds totaling $130,000 from two state agencies to pay for the bikeways. City officials will not know if the requests have been approved until spring.

The street resurfacing project is ambitious because the city last year had to cancel annual street maintenance plans due to lack of state funds, Montgomery said.

“The City Council has made a commitment to stress a high level of paving” and resurfacing, Montgomery said.

The money for the street program comes from the 1992-93 fiscal budget, which has yet to be approved by the council. Montgomery said that contractors cannot be hired or paid for the street and bike path projects until the budget is approved.

He said the city annually produces a list of streets that need resurfacing as part of a plan to reach every street in the city in five-year intervals.