The City Council expects to decide Wednesday whether to give Leucadia's Coast Highway 101 corridor a full-scale makeover or simply do a partial beautification.

Council members appear divided over the issue. Some favor replacing the area's traffic lights and stop signs with roundabouts, some don't.

"I'm not terribly hot on roundabouts," Mayor Dan Dalager said Thursday as he discussed the proposed Highway 101 Streetscape Project.

However, he added, he is willing to support at least one proposed traffic roundabout for the highway's intersection with La Costa Avenue. It's cheaper than other ways of improving traffic conditions at the busy intersection, he said.

Councilwoman Maggie Houlihan said she supports going with the full-scale overhaul of the corridor.

"I think this is going to be a huge step forward for Leucadia and the community," she said.

Houlihan said she knows some people don't like roundabouts, but added that she regularly uses one on Santa Fe Drive and finds it works well once you get used to it.

Councilman Jerome Stocks said he predicts the council will likely agree to a compromise that includes some, but not all, of the proposed beautification treatments.

Councilman James Bond said he might be willing to support traffic roundabouts, but not the proposed elimination of one northbound lane of the highway.

Councilwoman Teresa Barth couldn't reached for comment.

For several years, the city has been working with a merchants' group ---- Leucadia 101 Main Street Association ---- on plans to revamp a two-mile stretch of the coastal highway between A Street and La Costa Avenue. Plans call for giving the area a beautification treatment somewhat similar to what was done in downtown Encinitas.

Replacing stop signs with traffic roundabouts, improving the sidewalks, adding more landscaping and eliminating one of the northbound lanes of the roadway are among the suggested changes.

The council will review two options on Wednesday.

The first, known as Option 4A, calls for traffic roundabouts, reverse-angle and parallel parking, and the elimination of one northbound lane of traffic.

The second, known as Option 5, includes some beautification treatments but doesn't eliminate one northbound traffic lane or the traffic signals.

The council's expected to tell city planners which of the two it prefers so that the project can move into the final design stages. Construction work is expected to occur over several years.

"If I had to predict anything, I would predict that the council will likely come up with yet another alternative that somehow blends various elements of 4A and 5," Stocks said Thursday. "That would be consistent with what I've experienced over the years."

Whatever happens, city officials say, they expect the meeting will be lively.

Area residents and business owners have been just as divided as council members over the plans. David Smith, a Los Angeles firefighter who lives on Leucadia's El Portal Street, plans to attend. He said he wants to discuss how the proposed traffic roundabouts may affect fire truck response times.

Call staff writer Barbara Henry at 760-901-4072.

Encinitas City Council

6 p.m. Wednesday, City Hall, 505 S. Vulcan Ave.

Plans under consideration:

Option 4A ---- Traffic roundabouts, reverse-angle and parallel parking, and the elimination of one northbound lane of traffic.

Option 5 ---- A partial beautification treatment, without the elimination of one northbound traffic lane or replacement of traffic signals with roundabouts.

For more information, visit www.ci.encinitas.ca.us