Why Are Cranes Dropping Boulders at North Ponto This Fall?

Just north of the Las Encinas Creek bridge, near lifeguard Tower 28, trucks have been unloading boulders at the edge of southbound Carlsbad Boulevard since the start of October. On Monday, Oct. 5, a large crane arrived to lift each rock off the roadside and lower it onto the beach below. According to the City of Carlsbad's Oct. 8 update, each boulder weighs between two and six tons.

The city calls the work emergency bluff stabilization, and in a narrow sense that is accurate. On this mile of coast, though, emergencies keep coming back. The rock going in now is the fourth installment on a road Carlsbad has already planned to move inland and has not been able to fund. That unbuilt road move also helped shape the most contested land decision in South Carlsbad this month.

How a crack in the bike lane became a crane on the beach

The city has published the timeline in pieces. Put together, it runs like this:

1. June 25. During a routine inspection, staff found cracks in the shoulder and the bike lane on south Carlsbad Boulevard. They set out cones, sealed the cracks to keep moisture out of the pavement, and began monitoring the bluff for movement.
2. Mid-July. The city hired an independent geotechnical firm to study the site. City staff started meeting with Coastal Commission staff in August.
3. Sept. 8. The consultant's report recommended emergency stabilization of the bluff above North Ponto Beach, including an extension of the existing rock barrier.
4. Sept. 9. The city declared a local emergency. The Coast News reported the plan as an extension of about 192 feet north from the end of the current revetment.
5. Early October. Boulder deliveries began, the crane went to work, and the city said construction is expected to continue through late 2026.

The emergency declaration is mostly about speed. A city spokesperson told The Coast News that the cost of the work is above the formal bidding threshold, and formal bidding takes about four to six months. The declaration lets the work start right away.

Four to six months from September would push the work into the spring, after the season the city is preparing for. Carlsbad named a potentially strong El Niño as the reason to act now. The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center, in its Oct. 8 discussion, puts the chance of a strong-to-very-strong El Niño through January to March 2027 at greater than 83 percent. The same discussion gives an 83 percent chance that the October-to-December period exceeds the strength of every El Niño on record back to 1950. The next update is scheduled for Nov. 12.

What changes on the morning ride

The southbound bike lane is closed between Solamar Drive and Island Way while the work continues. The city has asked drivers to allow extra travel time, slow down and share the lane with cyclists. Boulder deliveries are expected to run for several more weeks.

When the emergency was first announced, the city said motorists could see intermittent lane closures along southbound Carlsbad Boulevard between Palomar Airport Road and Island Way. That is a longer stretch than the bike-lane closure. For anyone who uses the southbound lanes for a Ponto surf check or a run toward the lagoon, those two street names mark where the slowdown begins and ends for the rest of the year.

The fourth layer of rock on the same bluff

The new boulders sit on top of a long history. By the city's count, the existing revetment already covers 1,270 feet of the bluff's base. Carlsbad installed 750 feet of it in 2009 and 520 feet in 2015 and 2016. The 192-foot extension is the next addition, and the cracks that triggered it showed up in pavement north of the existing rock. The city says the roadway the current barrier protects remains stable.

As The Coast News reported in July, a 530-foot section that straddles Encinas Creek has relied on a temporary permit issued in 2018, and that permit expired in 2024. Coastal Commission staff determined that extending it by seven years, through 2031, was an "immaterial" change that could be handled administratively. The Surfrider Foundation objected that the city had not made enough progress toward a permanent fix. At the July 9 meeting, more than three commissioners objected, which sent the extension to the full commission. As of the Sept. 11 coverage, the hearing had not appeared on a commission agenda.

The city's long-term concept moves the southbound lanes inland to run beside the northbound lanes. According to The Coast News, the cost is estimated at $280 million. City engineer Brandon Miles told the paper that Carlsbad has finished a 30 percent roadway design and submitted seven grant applications. A city spokesperson added that no funding source had been identified.

"The city realizes that this is a priority project."

Transportation director and city engineer Tom Frank said that to The Coast News. He also said he drives the stretch every day after work. The city's south coastline project page describes a grant-funded study of the first mile, from Manzano Drive to Island Way. It also says City Council has not directed staff to begin preliminary design and engineering on the larger three-mile corridor.

Why the Ponto vote turned on the same road

A short way south, the unbuilt realignment showed up in a decision that has nothing to do with boulders. On Oct. 8, the California Coastal Commission voted 7 to 4 to approve land-use changes for Planning Area F. That is the vacant 11.1-acre parcel by South Ponto Beach, where H.G. Fenton Co. proposes PI Townhomes, a project of 120 rental townhomes with commercial space and public trails. The Coast News reported that 93 people spoke during roughly five hours of discussion. Most opposed housing on the site, and many argued for a coastal park, as People for Ponto has done for years. The group says it has collected more than 20,000 petition signatures and messages of support.

The approval came with a condition tied directly to this stretch of road. Commission staff recommended that housing go on the eastern portion of the parcel. The western portion would be limited to smaller visitor-serving uses, public trails and habitat restoration, with room kept open for a possible inland relocation of Carlsbad Boulevard or the South Carlsbad State Beach campground as sea levels rise. The staff report treats this as keeping an option open. It does not set a relocation schedule.

That puts the same unfunded plan in two places. At Tower 28 it explains why the city keeps adding rock. At Planning Area F it explains why part of the last large open parcel on the South Carlsbad coast is being held back from development. Commission Vice Chair Caryl Hart, Chair Meagan Harmon and Commissioners Mike Wilson and Suzanne Smith voted against the approval, citing coastal recreation and the permanent loss of undeveloped land. The vote does not authorize construction. PI Townhomes still needs approval from the Carlsbad City Council.

Reaching the sand while the crane is working

The work is on the bluff, and the city says one of its goals is to keep coastal access open for people walking, biking, driving or visiting. For the next few weeks, these are the easiest ways to the water nearby:

• South Ponto Day Use. California State Parks lists accessible beach access, picnic tables and a beach wheelchair here. It recommends South Ponto over the campground ramp between sites 179 and 180, which erosion has narrowed and which State Parks says could close.
• North Ponto. State Parks lists accessible parking and a vault toilet.
• The Coastal Rail Trail from Poinsettia Station. According to the City of Carlsbad, the segment from the Poinsettia Coaster Station to Carlsbad Boulevard is complete and includes a crossing at Ponto Drive. The segment from Palomar Airport Road to the station is in final design.

The two dates to watch next are NOAA's Nov. 12 El Niño update and whatever date the full Coastal Commission sets for the 2031 revetment hearing. Both will show how long this stretch of the boulevard stays in its current, temporary condition.

For owners along the South Carlsbad coast, revetment permits, realignment studies and Coastal Commission conditions affect what a property is and what it can become. If you would like a senior-level view of how these decisions apply to your own coastal property, Kathleen Gelcich offers a private home valuation that takes the regulatory record into account along with recent sales.