"Alignment A doesn't pass the common sense test." That's how Solana Beach Mayor Lesa Heebner described the most expensive of three proposals now under environmental study to move the region's coastal rail line off the crumbling Del Mar bluffs. She called it extremely expensive, twice the cost of the alternatives, and destructive to infrastructure the region has already paid for. What she didn't have to say out loud is that the same alignment begins south of her own city's train station.
That's Solana Beach's real estate story right now, and it has nothing to do with square footage.
The number that gets quoted, and the one that doesn't
If you've looked at Solana Beach listings recently, you've probably seen the price swing. Redfin's own data put the median sale price at $2.8 million over the three months ending April 2026, up 62.8 percent from the same period a year earlier, with the average sale price at $2.67 million in July 2026, up 38.2 percent year over year. Homes were also moving faster, an average of 17 days on market compared to 28 the year before.
Zillow's typical home value for Solana Beach tells a different story: $2,033,073 as of late June 2026, down 2.2 percent over the past year.
Both can be true at once. Solana Beach sells only a few dozen homes a month, 36 in April 2026 according to Redfin, which means a handful of larger or smaller transactions can swing the median without reflecting a real shift in what the broader market is doing. That volatility is worth knowing if you're comparing Solana Beach to a bigger, more liquid market like Encinitas or Carlsbad. But it isn't the number that should shape your due diligence here. The number that should is the one buried in a 269-page SANDAG report most buyers will never open.
The alignment that starts in your city
The San Diego Association of Governments has spent two years studying how to relocate a 1.7-mile stretch of the LOSSAN rail corridor off the eroding Del Mar bluffs. In June 2024, SANDAG narrowed dozens of route ideas down to three finalists for environmental review.
Alternative A, the I-5 route, begins south of the existing Solana Beach train station in a cut-and-cover tunnel, transitions to a bored tunnel beneath the Del Mar Fairgrounds and San Dieguito Lagoon, then follows I-5 before surfacing near a knoll south of Los Peñasquitos Lagoon. It is the longest option at roughly 6.7 to 6.8 miles, the most expensive by SANDAG's own accounting, and the slowest to build, with an estimated construction window of seven to twelve years. Alternatives B and C, both of which begin in Del Mar rather than Solana Beach, are expected to take a maximum of seven years.
| Alignment | Approx. length | Construction timeline | Starting point |
|---|---|---|---|
| A (I-5 route) | 6.7–6.8 miles | 7–12 years | South of the Solana Beach train station |
| B (Crest Canyon) | 5.3 miles | Up to 7 years | Jimmy Durante Blvd / Camino Del Mar, Del Mar |
| C (Camino Del Mar) | Shortest tunnel of the three | Up to 7 years | Del Mar, closest to the coast |
Cost estimates for Alternative A have moved around depending on who's citing them. Early reporting from NBC 7 and The Coast News put the figure near $4 billion. SANDAG's acting director of engineering and construction, Omar Atayee, has separately said it could run as high as $8 billion. Either way, it's the comparison Heebner was pointing to when she said Alternative A costs twice as much as the other two options.
The flip that explains how these decisions actually get made
Here's the part that should sharpen anyone's due diligence, not soften it. When Alternative A was first floated, Del Mar's own mayor at the time, Dave Druker, said it appeared to be the best choice, precisely because it would have the least impact on Del Mar residents during and after construction. The alignment that runs through Solana Beach was, for a stretch of time, the option Del Mar's leadership preferred.
That isn't a scandal. It's how regional infrastructure siting works everywhere. Every city likes the plan that solves the region's problem somewhere else. The Fairgrounds' own CEO, Carlene Moore, raised concerns about running a large cut-and-cover tunnel through the middle of the property. At that same SANDAG board meeting, Heebner went further, warning that Alternative A risked a severe reduction, or outright shutdown, of Fairgrounds events for multiple years, at a cost she estimated in the hundreds of millions of dollars in lost regional spending annually. By February 2025, SANDAG's Value Analysis Study, which reviewed more than 200 ideas from planners across Del Mar, Solana Beach, San Diego, Encinitas, and Carlsbad, had produced a revised version of Alternative A designed to reduce impact on the Fairgrounds and Solana Beach specifically, moving the portal south of the Fairgrounds and routing around the lagoon rather than under it.
None of that means the risk to Solana Beach properties near the corridor has been resolved. It means the map keeps getting redrawn as each city pushes back on its own behalf. As SANDAG's own Environmental Compliance Manager Keith Greer put it during the value analysis rollout:
"We're still at the very beginning. No decisions have been made, and there's no recommended alignment yet. We expect these will morph over time."
What SANDAG can and can't tell you today
As of SANDAG's most recent public update, dated July 23, 2026, the agency states plainly that a decision has not been made on which alignment will be built and that it is too soon to know how many homes will be affected. Geotechnical testing to study underground soil structure began in September 2025 in Del Mar and San Diego. An updated Notice of Preparation for the Draft Environmental Impact Report went out in May 2025 with a 45-day comment period. SANDAG has previously targeted 2035 for the rail line to actually move, which tells you how long this question stays open.
Worth sitting with: the current round of field surveys is concentrated in Del Mar and San Diego, not Solana Beach, even though Solana Beach was the starting point named in the costliest original alignment. That could mean momentum is shifting toward a Del Mar-based route, or it could mean nothing yet. SANDAG has said the alignments will keep evolving as engineering work continues.
This isn't an abstract regional planning exercise for Solana Beach. Cedros Avenue, the design district that gives downtown its walkable identity and its cafes, galleries, and the Belly Up Tavern, runs directly alongside the train station and tracks. A change to that corridor touches the street that anchors daily foot traffic downtown, not just a line on a transit map.
Comparing Solana Beach to Del Mar or Encinitas right now
If you're treating Solana Beach and Del Mar as interchangeable coastal comps because their price points and school districts look similar, this project is the reason to slow down. Two of the three live alignments start in Del Mar. One started in Solana Beach and has since been revised to reduce its footprint there. Neither city gets to claim it's the safe one.
For buyers, the practical move is to ask specifically whether a property sits within any corridor segment still under study, whether that's the area south of the Solana Beach train station toward the Fairgrounds, or the Crest Canyon and Camino Del Mar corridors in Del Mar. SANDAG's Value Analysis Study and its LOSSAN Rail Realignment page are public and searchable by anyone doing this homework directly.
For sellers whose property sits anywhere near these corridors, the smart approach is having a straight, factual answer ready. A buyer's agent doing real diligence will ask. A vague or defensive answer reads worse than an honest one that says the process is ongoing and no property-level impacts have been identified yet.
Quick FAQ
Does this affect the whole city of Solana Beach, or just certain streets? Just certain streets. The corridor under study runs along a narrow band near the train station, the Fairgrounds, and the coastal bluffs. Most homes in Solana Beach are not near any portal location SANDAG has studied. The point isn't to worry broadly, it's to ask specifically if a property you're considering falls inside that band.
When will SANDAG actually choose an alignment? There's no confirmed date. SANDAG's own July 2026 update states no decision has been made and it's too soon to estimate property impacts. The agency previously targeted 2035 for physical relocation of the tracks, which gives a sense of how long this stays a live question rather than a settled one.
Should I hold off on buying or selling in Solana Beach until this is resolved? That's a personal and financial decision, not one we can make for you. What we'd say as your local team is that the uncertainty here is asset-specific, not citywide, and it applies to parts of Del Mar too. The better move is informed diligence on a specific address rather than a blanket wait-and-see on an entire market that continues to trade actively in the meantime.
If you're weighing a purchase or sale in Solana Beach and want a straight answer about how a specific address relates to this project, or you just want a second set of eyes on a listing before you get emotionally attached to it, Fontaine Realty Group has spent years tracking exactly this kind of North County detail. Contact us and we'll walk through it with you, street by street.
