Work to Begin on PCH Sewer Project

In mid-December, the City of Los Angeles will begin construction of a 4,500-foot Coastal Interceptor Relief Sewer that will increase capacity of the existing sewer and is intended to keep dry-water runoff from draining into Santa Monica Bay.   About 3,100 feet of the sewer will be built on Pacific Coast Highway between Annenberg Community Beach House and the Will Rogers State Beach’s parking lot (across from Potrero Canyon) and 1,400 feet in the parking lots for Will Rogers and Santa Monica Beach Club. Lanes on PCH will not be closed while work is taking place in the parking lots.   The entire $10-million project should be complete by fall 2012. The sewer is 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 contractor, Blois Construction, based in Oxnard, will first begin work on the channel that runs under PCH, north of Entrada Drive and south of Channel Road, said Michelle Vargas, public information officer for the L.A. Department of Public Works. A portion of the sewer will run beneath the channel.   In January, construction will begin on PCH and result in lane closures, Vargas said. She has not yet received an exact schedule from the contractor, but she said that throughout the two years of construction, there will be reduced southbound traffic lanes Mondays through Fridays when work is being done on PCH.   One of the three southbound lanes between the Will Rogers State Beach parking lot and the Annenberg will be closed from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. Two lanes will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. The three northbound lanes will not be affected.   The Pacific Palisades Community Council asked Andy Flores, project manager of the Proposition O Clean Water Bond Program, during its August meeting to take all possible measures to reduce traffic on PCH. Since then, Flores has consulted with Caltrans to come up with a traffic mitigation plan.   At last Thursday’s Council meeting, Flores reported that two weeks before any construction begins, portable electronic signs will be placed on the 101 Freeway at Kanan Road, Los Virgenes Road and Topanga Canyon Road.   ’The goal is to keep those vehicles on the 101 and discourage them from coming down to the PCH,’ Flores said of the commuters.   To inform local drivers, electronic signs will be placed on the PCH at Topanga Canyon Road and Sunset Boulevard. Two additional signs will be installed on Sunset near Temescal Canyon Road.   Since the electronic signs cost $500 a day to operate, the city will have them up for only two weeks before construction begins, Flores said. After that, the city will put up traditional signs at those locations to notify drivers of the construction.   Information on the lane closures will be available at www.lapropo.org, on Twitter @ PCHPartners or by calling (877) 700-3069 or (213) 978-0333.