La Jolla Parkway to be resurfaced as part of ‘Sexy Streets’ initiative

La Jolla Parkway, the main thoroughfare linking major freeways to La Jolla Shores and The Village, will be resurfaced as part of San Diego’s “Sexy Streets” initiative.

Few details are available about the schedule and duration of the project, but City Councilman Joe LaCava, whose District 1 includes La Jolla, said community planning groups will be notified in advance of the start of work “so residents, employees and businesses are alerted to the temporary disruption and delays. The long-overdue road repair of La Jolla Parkway will be disruptive and will not occur during the summer moratorium [from Memorial Day to Labor Day annually].”

The Sexy Streets initiative is a two-year citywide program scheduled to begin in the next six to nine months, though the La Jolla Parkway resurfacing project does not yet have a timeline.

San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria and the City Council approved Sexy Streets as part of the fiscal 2022 budget. In December, the mayor’s office finalized the decision on which roads would be included in the initiative, LaCava told the La Jolla Light.

LaCava field representative Steve Hadley told the La Jolla Community Planning Association during its Jan. 6 meeting that “the mayor sends a list of streets that are in the highest need of repair to the council members for those districts and asks for their input. Council member LaCava returned quite a prioritized list … and the mayor has returned a memo stating where he is going to put the money. I’m happy to report that La Jolla Parkway is at the top of that list.”

La Jolla Traffic & Transportation Board Chairman Brian Earley said he was “clapping and cheering” when the news was announced.

“La Jolla Parkway is one of only two entrances to the highest tourist destination in the city, where first impressions mean a lot,” Earley said. “The resurfacing of La Jolla Parkway is long overdue; it will benefit the thousands of commuters and commercial traffic that use this entrance to La Jolla on a day-to-day basis. We are thankful for council member LaCava for submitting La Jolla Parkway as urgent for resurfacing and are hopeful that the city continues to prioritize these areas that carry the appeal of San Diego.”

A median separates Azure Coast Drive (left) from La Jolla Parkway.

(File)

In June, Gloria unveiled a $145 million plan to upgrade infrastructure across San Diego; $28.4 million of that is to fund the Sexy Streets initiative.

“We are taking action to address the decades-long neglect of our infrastructure now instead of kicking the can down a pothole-riddled road,” Gloria said in a statement. “This $145 million investment in key infrastructure projects across our city will fix roads, upgrade city facilities and improve quality of life for residents.” ◆