Pacific Coast Highway will be the site of various lane and road closures for city and state projects over a two-year period beginning next spring. At a November 5 PCH Task Force meeting, organized by State Senator Sheila Kuehl, officials representing Santa Monica, Los Angeles and Caltrans presented seven projects that will have an impact on the highway from the McClure Tunnel to Cross Creek Road in Malibu. The first project to affect Pacific Palisades and Malibu commuters is the resurfacing of PCH by Caltrans starting in the spring, with completion planned before summer. According to Sameer Haddadeen, chief of the Caltrans office of traffic investigation, the project could possibly start a month or two earlier, so that it can be finished before summer. Normally, construction on southbound lanes occurs between 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on northbound lanes from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., but construction could occur from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. After hearing about other projects scheduled for PCH, Haddadeen said, ‘The segment between McClure Tunnel and Temescal Canyon Road may be delayed until the other work is done.’ Next summer, Santa Monica plans to drill hydraugers (pipes) into the Santa Monica bluffs adjacent to PCH to drain the water that is accumulating behind the bluff face. In 1998 a portion of the bluff sloughed off, spilling tons of dirt across the highway, but no one was injured. The hydrauger construction is scheduled to take 12 months to complete. One lane of northbound PCH traffic will be closed during that time. The $30-million Annenberg Community Beach Club, located at 415 PCH, the site of the old Marion Davies estate in Santa Monica, is currently under construction and when completed will include a swimming pool, a pool house with locker rooms, a snack bar, community meeting rooms and a beach playground, as well as a parking lot with 277 spaces. A traffic signal at that site met with early opposition and is still under review, but Caltrans operations have approved the light and are waiting for the design approval from their office. ‘My understanding is that it’s on its way to being approved, but it has not officially been signed off on,’ said Laurie Newman in Senator Kuehl’s office. The light is scheduled for installation in early 2008. When the site is fully open to the public in early 2009, reservations will be required and the prospect of increased traffic has planners looking at shuttles or other alternatives. A Los Angeles city project that will maintain electric reliability by building a new duct system for the existing line is slated to begin in April 2008. The old system has reached capacity and the purpose is to upgrade the system. The project will run from Kenter Canyon to San Vicente to Seventh Street, West Channel Road onto PCH to Sunset Boulevard. The PCH portion of the project will take about six months. ‘The PCH portion will be scheduled in conjunction with various other agencies and officials in order to have minimum impact,’ LADWP spokesperson Carol Tucker told the Palisadian-Post Wednesday morning. The California Incline project, which will replace the 1930s hillside bridge that connects PCH to Santa Monica, has been in the news because of worries about traffic impact on adjacent streets and in Santa Monica Canyon. The bridge will be upgraded to meet seismic standards as well as being widened. The project is expected to begin in summer/fall 2009 and finish a year later. While the Incline project is under way, Santa Monica will also improve the bridge that connects Ocean Avenue with the pier. Plans include widening and seismically fitting the structure. With Proposition O money, upgrades to the low-flow diversion pumps at Bay Club Drive, Temescal Canyon, Palisades Park and Santa Monica Canyon, as well as the recently completed Marquez pump, will begin in the fall of 2009 and take about a year to complete. The purpose is to collect dry-weather surface runoff year-round, rather than just April through October, thus improving water quality in Santa Monica Bay. The low-flow pump upgrades will cause little impact on traffic, but upon completion, a new 60-inch sewer pipe will be laid under PCH. After the presentations, a woman from Malibu asked, ‘Are there any alternative routes going to be available for Malibu residents. People in Pacific Palisades will hate us, because we’ll get off at Sunset and the roads will be packed.’ Under Kuehl’s leadership, the different city agencies and Caltrans have formed PCH Partners to discuss the logistics of how to move traffic during construction, but no definite was answer given to the woman. ‘There’s going to be so much going on at the same time that the engineers need to talk to each other and make sure there aren’t other projects scheduled for Allenford or San Vicente Boulevard during this time,’ said Barry Kurtz, a transportation engineer for L.A. County Beaches and Harbors Department. Kurtz, a resident, later shared his personal opinion with the Post. ‘It will two years of misery for people in the Palisades who rely on Sunset,’ he said.
This page is available to subscribers. Click here to sign in or get access.
