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What is the Mobility Element?
The Mobility Element of the City of Laguna Hills' General Plan serves as a strategic framework to guide the development and enhancement of the city's transportation systems. Its primary purpose is to ensure safe, efficient, and sustainable mobility for all users—including drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and transit riders—while supporting the city's land use goals and accommodating future growth.
This element outlines policies and plans for roadways, public transit, bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, and alternative transportation modes. By integrating transportation planning with land use decisions, the Mobility Element aims to reduce traffic congestion, improve connectivity, and promote a balanced, multi-modal transportation network that aligns with the community's vision for a livable and accessible environment.
Why are we amending the Mobility Element?
The Master Plan of Arterial Highways (MPAH), administered by the Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA), coordinates roadway system planning across Orange County jurisdictions. The proposed Mobility Element amendment would bring roadway classifications for portions of Paseo de Valencia and Cabot Road in line with recent roadway reclassification approvals in the MPAH by OCTA. The proposed amendment is a necessary step for the City to receive $5,000,000 in federal funding earmarked for a project that involves constructing a Class IV Bikeway on Paseo de Valencia between Alicia Parkway and Cabot Road, and on Cabot Road between Paseo de Valencia and El Paseo.
What is in the Mobility Element Amendment?
In order to accommodate a Class IV Bikeway on Paseo de Valencia and Cabot Road, the proposed roadway classification updates are as follows:
- Paseo De Valencia (Alicia Pkwy – La Paz Rd) from a Major Six-Lane Divided Arterial to a Two-Lane Divided Collector
- Paseo De Valencia (La Paz Rd – Cabot Rd) from a Secondary Four-Lane Undivided Arterial to a Two-Lane Divided Collector
- Cabot Road (Paseo De Valencia – El Paseo) from a Secondary Four-Lane Undivided Arterial to a Two-Lane Divided Collector
What is NOT in the Mobility Element Amendment?
The amendment to the Mobility Element does NOT include a specific project for implementation. The Mobility Element only includes street reclassifications that would allow for consideration of a future project to be designed with community input.
Next Steps
The Mobility Element Amendment was presented to the City Council on June 24, 2025 and will be reviewed again on September 9, 2025.
If approved, City Staff will continue to work on conceptual designs based on community feedback.
A second public workshop on design alternatives and the Mobility Element Amendment process has been scheduled for August 19, 2025. More information below.
Upon completion of the public input process and the refinement of the scope of work, a final draft of a project will be presented at a separate, yet-to-be-scheduled, public meeting to the City Council for review and approval sometime in early 2026.
Tentative Project Timeline
- May 14, 2025 – Public Workshop #1
- June 24, 2025 – Mobility Element Amendment to City Council
- June 30, 2025 – Posting of Conceptual Plan #3 on the City website
- August 19, 2025 – Public Workshop #2
- February/March 2026 - Selection of Project Design
- June 2026 - Final Project Design
- April 2027 – Construction Contract Award
- May 2027 – November 2027 – Construction of Project
Previous Project Meetings
Community Outreach Workshop No. 2
| Date | Tuesday, August 19, 2025 |
| Time | 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. |
| Location | Laguna Hills Civic Center – Council Chambers 24035 El Toro Road, Laguna Hills, CA 92653 |
| Workshop Materials |
Community Outreach Workshop No. 1
| Date | Wednesday, May 14, 2025 |
| Time | 5:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. |
| Location | Laguna Hills Civic Center – Council Chambers 24035 El Toro Road, Laguna Hills, CA 92653 |
| Workshop Materials |
NEW! Conceptual Plan - Alternative 3
Based on community feedback at Community Outreach Workshop No. 1, a new Conceptual Plan, Alternative 3, featuring two vehicular travel lanes in each direction has been developed for community feedback. All three Alternatives will be displayed the Community Outreach Workshop on August 19, 2025
Contact Information
Public Works Department
Phone: (949) 707-2651
Email: PWPermits@lagunahillsca.gov
Frequently Asked Questions
What was the genesis of this project?
This project was created for five reasons:
- To provide a safer drop-off and pick-up area for students at Valencia Elementary School. For years, the City has received complaints from parents who are required to park on La Paz Road and Paseo de Valencia at drop-off and pick-up times because not enough space exists in front of Valencia Elementary School. Placing Paseo de Valencia on a “road diet” (reducing the number of through lanes) allows for space to be provided for this new parking and turn out area.
- To provide for better pedestrian access to Lomerena Elementary School. For years, the City has received complaints from residents south of Paseo de Valencia off Alisal and Sunburst that they have to walk to Alicia Parkway or La Paz Road to cross Paseo de Valencia. Several requests for mid-block crosswalks have been made at Alisal or Sunburst; however, unless an all-way stop is created, a mid-block crosswalk would otherwise be unsafe.
- To lower average speeds on Paseo de Valencia. Speeding on Paseo de Valencia, in excess of the 45 MPH speed limit and in excess of the 25 MPH speed limit when children are present in front of Valencia Elementary School, is commonplace. Placing Paseo de Valencia on a “road diet” is a proven technique to slow down traffic.
- To provide for beautification of the corridor. Currently, there is insufficient space for creating a parkway area on the north side of Paseo de Valencia to beautify the corridor. Placing Paseo de Valencia on a road diet allows for space for new parkways and medians.
- To increase safety and provide connectivity for bicyclists using the Aliso Creek Bikeway to also access the future City of Mission Viejo Quad-Cities Bikeway along Cabot Road that will connect bicyclists to bikeways that already exist in Laguna Niguel, San Juan Capistrano, and Dana Point, so bicyclists can access Doheny State Beach and Pacific Coast Highway as an alternative to using other arterial highways such as Moulton, Crown Valley, or Marguerite/Rancho Viejo Road.
The two-way bikeway concept is not good. Why does it have to be a two-way bikeway? Can’t we keep one-way bike lanes?
A two-way Class IV bikeway is not required. The two-way bikeway concept uses the least amount of width thereby allowing for wider/better drop-off and pick-up areas in front of Valencia Elementary School and wider parkways and medians. City staff will also explore one-way separated Class IV bikeways and anticipates having this alternative displayed at the May 14, 2025 Public Workshop, and on the City website soon.
Can’t we construct all of the improvements, except the bikeway?
A separate Class IV Bikeway is a necessary component of this project in order to receive Federal funding. “Active Transportation Projects” are currently the focus of State and Federal transportation grants and are considered high priority improvements. Consequently, millions of dollars have been allocated to these projects. This grant requires a bikeway construction component. City staff has tentatively secured $5,000,000 of Federal funding for this project because of the bikeway construction component. If Class IV bikeways are deleted, the project as a whole can not be built. Therefore, this project was contemplated to include a Class IV bikeway.
What is a Class IV Bikeway?
There are many references to bike facility types in various articles and presentations on bike facility types. The following is a list of the four bike facility types used in California.
Class I - Bike Path Bike Paths, commonly referred to as shared-use or multiuse trails, are fully separated bike facilities, exclusively for the use of bike and pedestrians. There is some interaction with vehicles which is limited to trail crossing with the roadway. | |
Class II - Bike Lanes Bike lanes, are a portion of the roadway that is striped for one-way bike travel. Buffered bike lanes also fall into this category, this is when a bike lane is accompanied by a painted striped buffer between the bike lane and parking or travel lane. | |
Class III - Bike Route Bike Routes are shared facilities with pedestrian or motor vehicle traffic. The primary purpose is to provide a connection to other bicycle facilities (typically Class II); or designate preferred bike routes. Bike routes are indicated by bike route signs and shared roadway markings along the route. | |
Class IV - Separated Bikeway Separated bikeways, sometimes referred to as protected bike lanes, provides a bikeway for the exclusive use by bicycles. What differentiates this from a Class I or a Class II is that it cannot be used by pedestrians or vehicles and it must include a horizontal and/or vertical separation. These horizontal and vertical separators can include: flexible posts, on-street parking, grade separation, railing or planters. |
Source: Caltrans Classification Brochure, 2017(External link).
What is the purpose of the Mobility Element Update? How is it tied to this project?
The Mobility Element Update simply makes it possible to contemplate this project by allowing Paseo de Valencia to be reclassified from a four-lane (two lanes in each direction) arterial highway to a collector street (one lane in each direction). The approval of the Mobility Element Update does not approve of this project.
How do you know that the traffic volumes on Paseo de Valencia and on Cabot Road are low enough to allow for the roadways to be placed on a “road diet?”
The Orange County Transportation Authority, which is the regional transportation authority for Orange County, conducted modeling to verify the reduction of the number of through lanes on Paseo de Valencia between Alicia Parkway and Cabot Road and on Cabot Road between Paseo de Valencia and El Paseo would not result in undesirable levels of service.
This modeling was required as a pre-requisite for allowing the City of Laguna Hills to apply for an amendment to the Master Plan of Arterial Highways.
Based on the modeling done, OCTA concurred that placing Paseo de Valencia and Cabot Road on a road diet would not cause undesirable levels of service for motorists.
Even so, placing Cabot Road between Paseo de Valencia and El Paseo may not be necessary as other placements of a class IV bikeway may allow two lanes in each direction in this segment.
Is this “preliminary design” or “concept design” the only alternative that will be considered?
Absolutely not! These designs are just for discussion purposes. It is the project team’s belief that you need to put something on paper to have something for the public to talk about and garner feedback. The purpose of the Open House/Public Workshop is to get community feedback and make the feedback productive.
We’ve already heard that the proposed drop-off and pick-up lanes in front of Valencia Elementary School may not be long enough, so it should be easy to increase the length of those lanes in exchange for removing some of the proposed parkway areas on the north side of Paseo de Valencia. We’ve also heard that the proposed stop signs at both Alisal and at Velasquez is too many in a small stretch of roadway. One could be removed or one could be moved to another nearby intersection, for example, at Ericson Way or Hillary Lane.
Are there any other justifications for placing Paseo de Valencia on a road diet and implementing all-way stops at select intersections?
The latest Traffic Signal Warrant analysis in 2016 conducted by the City’s traffic engineering consultant determined that traffic signals should be installed at Alisal Avenue and at Ericson Way, if the current 4-lane (2 lanes in each direction) roadway configuration on Paseo de Valencia remains in place. These locations met several requirements from the Federal Highway Administration that must be met before a signal can be installed. These requirements are called “warrants” and are outlined in the California Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (CA-MUTCD). The challenge has always been finding funding to construct and maintain additional traffic signals in the City. A new signal usually costs more than $250,000 to construct, and additional dollars are needed for maintenance. Alternatively, all-way stops are not advisable on roadways where multiple lanes of through traffic approach an intersection. Having multiple approaching lanes of traffic arrive at a stop sign leads to confusion as to which motorist has the right-of-way and is usually inefficient; therefore, traffic signals are favored on arterial highways. With this project, all-way stops can be implemented where needed, including at intersections which previously met traffic signal warrants or where pedestrian crossings are desired.