Company:

City of Newport Beach

Status:

Awarded

Awarded:

Roadway & Highway Project of the Year

Additional Files

Additional Information

Newport Boulevard Widening

Project Location:

Newport Boulevard from Via Lido to 30th Street in the City of Newport Beach

Project Description:

This street improvement project is a culmination of several years of effort to plan, design, permit, and acquire public right-of-way to widen Newport Boulevard from Via Lido to 30th Street in the City of Newport Beach. Improvements include demolishing a former bank building to accommodate the construction of a new public parking lot, adding one thru lane in each direction, constructing raised landscaped medians, concrete sidewalks and bikes lanes, repaving, modifying four traffic signals, and signing and striping.

Project Justification:

Newport Boulevard is a major arterial and serves as an entrance to the Balboa Peninsula with densely populated businesses and residential communities.  In addition to local residents and merchants, many visitors traverse Newport Boulevard to access the beach and other recreational attractions. This project involves reconstructing new sidewalks adjacent of store fronts which required an extensive amount of coordination and scheduling with each of the merchants. Providing traffic control for the significant amount of vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians due to the proximity to the beach was also a unique component of this project.

The City also administered a separate major water main replacement project at the same location which needed to be completed prior to repaving Newport Boulevard. In order to minimize public inconvenience and avoid the need to permanently restore the pavement after the water main installation, the City strategically programmed both of these projects with overlapping construction schedules to reduce construction costs and duration.

Special Circumstances:

The additional travel lanes along with upgraded traffic signal equipment increased vehicular capacity, reduce traffic congestion, and improve the overall level of service of Newport Boulevard.  To facilitate the widening, a total of 26 on-street parking stalls were removed.  The City acquired two parcels and constructed a new public parking lot with 32 parking stalls to mitigate and improve the parking situation. This project also improved safety for bicyclist on a major arterial with the addition of new concrete bike lanes on both sides of Newport Boulevard which are highlighted with bright green bike legends. Safety and aesthetics are further enhanced with the construction of raised drought-tolerant landscape medians.

The success of this project was largely attributed to the positive relationships we developed with many of the merchants and residents along Newport Boulevard. The teaming between City staff and the contractor was also a key component. 

Project Attachments:

Additional construction photos and a letter of appreciation from a merchant are attached at the “Additional Information” section below.

Award Citation::

The Newport Boulevard Widening project is a culmination of several years of effort to plan, design, permit, and acquire public right-of-way to widen Newport Boulevard from Via Lido to 30th Street.  Neighboring merchants, residents as well as visitors to the Balboa Peninsula can now benefit from reduced traffic congestion, additional parking, and improved safety and aesthetics with the addition of bike lanes and raised landscaped medians.

Suggested Award Summary:

The Newport Boulevard Widening project is a culmination of several years of effort to plan, design, permit, and acquire public right-of-way to widen Newport Boulevard from Via Lido to 30th Street in the City of Newport Beach. Improvements include demolishing a former bank building to accommodate the construction of a new public parking lot, adding one thru lane in each direction, constructing raised landscaped medians, concrete sidewalks and bikes lanes, repaving, modifying four traffic signals, and signing and striping.

Newport Boulevard is a major arterial and serves as an entrance to the Balboa Peninsula with densely populated businesses and residential communities.  In addition to local residents and merchants, many visitors traverse Newport Boulevard to access the beach and other recreational attractions. This project involves reconstructing new sidewalks adjacent of store fronts which required an extensive amount of coordination and scheduling with each of the merchants. Providing traffic control for the significant amount of vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians due to the proximity to the beach was also a unique component of this project.

The City also administered a separate major water main replacement project at the same location which needed to be completed prior to repaving Newport Boulevard. In order to minimize public inconvenience and avoid the need to permanently restore the pavement after the water main installation, the City strategically programmed both of these projects with overlapping construction schedules to reduce construction costs and duration.

The additional travel lanes along with upgraded traffic signal equipment increased vehicular capacity, reduce traffic congestion, and improve the overall level of service of Newport Boulevard.  To facilitate the widening, a total of 26 on-street parking stalls were removed.  The City acquired two parcels and constructed a new public parking lot with 32 parking stalls to mitigate and improve the parking situation. This project also improved safety for bicyclist on a major arterial with the addition of new concrete bike lanes on both sides of Newport Boulevard which are highlighted with bright green bike legends. Safety and aesthetics are further enhanced with the construction of raised drought-tolerant landscape medians.

The success of this project was largely attributed to the positive relationships we developed with many of the merchants and residents along Newport Boulevard. The teaming between City staff and the contractor was also a key component.