2015 Project of the Year – American Public Works Association – San Diego / Imperial Counties Chapter

Mission Avenue is the gateway to the City of Oceanside downtown commercial zone from Interstate 5. The street was heavily dominated by vehicular and bus traffic in both directions and was characterized as a street with a freeway-like linearity with no traffic calming or enticement to slow down. The project program was to provide alternatives without a central median, that promoted a safe and walkable downtown, updated its streetscape and stimulated economic revitalization. The Lightfoot Planning Group was the landscape architect on the design team of this award-winning project.

The collaborative process between the design team, merchants, public, and decision makers, included conceptual designs for five alternatives, including the final concept that most embodied walkable Green Street principles. TLPG proposed Green Street and Low Impact Development (LID) strategies to manage stormwater and provide trees and landscape buffers.

project highlights

• One-way traffic couplet, involving adjoining streets
• Reduction to two lanes of one-way traffic
• Incorporation of reverse angle parking
• Widened sidewalks with canopy trees
• Sidewalk bulb-outs with new crosswalks
• Ornamental Landscape buffers to manage stormwater