As the second phase of its downtown revitalization plan takes shape, Crescent City is now eyeing U.S. 101.

The city is pursuing a Caltrans Partnership Planning Grant to complete its U.S. Highway 101 Multimodal Land Use Plan with help from the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission.

The land-use plan for the highway corridor will analyze motorized and non motorized uses between Wilson Avenue and Anchor Way, Crescent City Manager Eric Wier told Redwood Voice Community News on Thursday.

In a letter to the DNLTC at its meeting on Tuesday, Wier said the city’s goal is to determine what improvements are needed to ensure travelers feel like they’ve arrived in a unique community.

“The Highway 101 corridor does not really reflect who we are,” Wier told commissioners. “We have beautiful redwoods, we have the coastline — yet, when you travel through it, you don’t experience that.”

At the city’s request, transportation commissioners unanimously consented to being the lead agency in applying for the grant on behalf of the city. Wier estimated that the total grant amount would be about $600,000.

The Del Norte Local Transportation Commission also agreed to provide match funding for the Caltrans grant of up to $120,000. According to DNLTC Executive Director Tamera Leighton, the city will administer its own project, which includes producing quarterly reports on how the grant is being used.

“I will still be required to do the invoice reimbursements because the funding will come through the Transportation Commission,” Leighton said. “There will still be some administrative work done by me.”

By asking the Transportation Commission, which serves as the Regional Transportation Planning Agency for Del Norte County, to take the lead on pursuing the Caltrans grant, Leighton said the city has a greater chance of receiving the funding.

Crescent City Grants and Economic Development Manager Bridget Lacey will be taking the lead on the city’s side, Wier said. 

For more than a year, Crescent City has been working with Crandall Arambula to create a plan for revitalizing its downtown area. The plan’s boundary encompasses M and L streets — also known as U.S. 101 — to the east, D Street in the west, 7th Street in the north and Front Street toward the south.

The “Downtown Core Area” includes L Street in the East, F Street in the west, Front Street to the south and 4th Street to the north.

At a July 7 meeting of business owners, public officials and representatives from local nonprofits, Don Arambula, Crandall Arambula’s principal, had proposed the redesign of K Street as a “demonstration project” for elements that would be incorporated on 3rd Street. 

They include additional landscaping, lighting, new sidewalks and new pavement that would be installed concurrently with the new Redwood Coast Transit Authority transit center. 

On Thursday, Wier told Redwood Voice Community News that some of the elements Arambula is recommending are examples of what has worked well for other downtown areas. They include traffic calming methods and more greenery as well as where to put curb cuts and driveways. 

The land-use plan for the U.S. 101 corridor through the Crescent City area will be a deeper dive and will include a traffic study as well as pedestrian and bicycle counts to help determine how best to support those uses, Wier said.

The U.S. Highway 101 Multimodal Land Use Plan will go before the Crescent City Council next Tuesday. Councilors will be asked to direct staff to prepare the grant application on behalf of the Del Norte Local Transportation Commission  — Leighton said once the application is prepared she’ll sign it and send it along.

Councilors will also be asked to approve a letter to Caltrans endorsing the multimodal land use plan project, according to Wier’s staff report.

The deadline to apply for the Caltrans Partnership Planning Grant is the end of October, Wier said, with the award to be disbursed in 2027.

“At that point we would need to put out an RFP for a consultant firm that would do the work and that would proceed in 2027,” he said. “And 2028 is when the planning study will be completed.”

The planning study will help Crescent City pursue funding for future projects, the city manager told transportation commissioners.

Since Monday is Labor Day, the Crescent City Council will meet at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Flynn Center, 981 H Street in Crescent City.