Newport Beach – Alternative 2

This is our recommended approach to balancing the competing interests in providing the region improved traffic flow with pedestrian and bicyclist safety while creating a unique walking environment with access to the water.

Plan for the Mariners’ Village to be centered along a short, walkable segment of Coast Highway will allow for safer pedestrian and bicycle access to the water and shops by local residents and visitors. The Village is a catalyst for generating a unique community character, stimulating economic development, and the investment necessary to change locals’ expectations for Mariners’ Mile.

The Coast Highway controlled access segment is intended to be less of a ‘Main Street’ than Corona del Mar while allowing for industrial equipment and boats to access the bay and thoroughfare. Three blocks, including adding a new crossing to access the new east/west link to Avon Street at the base of the bluff will have transportation demand management systems to balance the traffic flow at peak times. The public parking garage anchors the center of the Village and provides a new direct link to the harbor front. The parking garage sits on the existing public parking lot as well as the upper neighborhood’s public theater park land. This public parking structure frees up required parking on the highly-constrained two-fronted lots along Coast Highway.

With the new catalytic parking garage north of Coast Highway and the traffic calming and access management tools on just three (3) blocks, and a shared parking program, the harbor front is now more accessible and able to link its proposed boardwalk along the waterfront to provide a unique ‘working’ harbor setting. Linking directly to Riverside Avenue, Tustin Avenue, and the new crossing area, public piers are now possible to provide additional access to the bay and other parts of the city via water taxis.

Distinctive way-finding signage and branding to assist locals and its visitors in finding both parking areas and waterfront connections across coast highway.

An eclectic architectural Style on buildings that define the public realm in a pedestrian-oriented way is recommended to facilitate the following: distinctive community character; the unique two-fronted building type; and less expensive construction costs due to the use of marine-industrial-inspired materials for specialized buildings on valuable land. These illustrations depict buildings between the bay and Coast Highway.

These Illustrations Depict the Two-Fronting Buildings between Coast Highway and the Bluff with the new Avon Street Extension

Section of the Public Parking Garage on the Existing Public Parking Lot Extending into the Bluff and the Public Park Above.

Urban Design Tools to connect Coast Highway to the Bluff and Upper
Neighborhoods. Coding for Two-Fronted Buildings: