This fall, the City of Los Angeles will begin constructing a Coastal Interceptor Relief Sewer that will result in lane closures along Pacific Coast Highway into 2012. Andy Flores, project manager of the Proposition O Clean Water Bond Program, told the Pacific Palisades Community Council last Thursday that during construction at least two of the three southbound lanes between the Will Rogers State Beach parking lot across from Potrero Canyon and the Annenberg Community Beach House will be open from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. At least one southbound lane will be open from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. The three northbound lanes will not be affected. ’It won’t be [every day during] the complete two years,’ Flores said, explaining that the contractor will construct about 3,100 ft. of the 4,500-ft. relief sewer on PCH and the other 1,400 ft. in the parking lots of Will Rogers Beach and the Santa Monica Beach Club. While working in the parking lots, the contractor will not need to close any lanes on PCH. Work in the parking lots will occur during the daytime hours in the non-summer months (Labor Day to two weeks before Memorial Day). The bike path at the bottom of Chautauqua Boulevard where it crosses the Santa Monica Channel will also be affected by the construction. The city will be installing a temporary bridge at that location to create a minor detour. The $10-million Coastal Interceptor Relief Sewer is a part of Proposition O, which was passed in 2004 by Los Angeles voters to improve water quality in the city’s beaches, harbors and lakes. The city is nearly finished with upgrading the eight low-flow diversion (LFD) structures in the Palisades area. The LFDs will divert urban runoff to the sanitary sewer system during year-round dry weather, so that stormwater does not reach Santa Monica Bay. The LFDs currently function only during the spring and summer. A Central Interceptor Relief Sewer is being built to increase capacity of the existing Coastal Interceptor Sewer in PCH to accommodate the additional stormwater from the LFD upgrades. As a result of the upgrades, less bacteria and pollutants will reach the water and there should be fewer beach closures. ‘With this project, we should be getting ‘As’ from Heal the Bay [which rates beaches],’ Flores said. Flores told the Community Council that the city is close to hiring a contractor, and he expects that work will begin near the Annenberg Community Beach House. Concerned about traffic flow, the Council unanimously passed a motion urging ‘the City of Los Angeles, and other entities with projects impacting PCH traffic, to take all possible measures to reduce traffic on PCH.’ The Council asked the city place electronic message boards on the 101 Freeway to inform commuters (who use canyon roads to connect to the PCH) about the construction as well as encourage drivers to carpool and alter their travel times. Flores responded that the city already plans to use electronic message boards, at locations still to be determined. Jessyca Avalos, field deputy for L.A. City Councilman Bill Rosendahl, said she would work with L.A. Department of Public Works officials on setting up e-mail blasts and Twitter alerts about lane closures. To help preserve the scenic coastline, the Council also unanimously passed a motion asking that the city move the above-ground electrical wires on the beach side of PCH underground as part of the sewer project. Council member George Wolfberg said that he thinks it would be a good idea, since the city would already be digging a trench at that location. Flores told the Council that funding for such an option would not be available through Proposition O, which is restricted to clean-water projects. For more information on the sewer project, visit www.lapropo.org or call (877) 700-3069.
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