Residents of Corral petition for traffic light

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One death and numerous accidents at the intersection of PCH and Corral Canyon Road cause residents to take action.

Heidi Manteuffel/Special to The Malibu Times

Accident history and pedestrian collisions, including an injured neighbor needing to be airlifted to a hospital, have driven Corral Canyon residents Theresa Tuchman and Richard Neiter to circulate a petition demanding that Caltrans install a traffic light at the intersection of Corral Canyon and PCH. They plan to bring the petition before the City Council in early May.

“I was deeply disturbed by the pedestrian death on August 30,” Tuchman said. “My neighbor being injured in his front yard put me over the edge. There are parents up Corral Canyon who use the intersection every day to take their children to school. I’m not going to stand by in complacency and watch them get injured or killed.”

Tuchman has witnessed numerous accidents and close collisions during the past eight years at the intersection. She works in her garden often, and said that screeching tires and near misses are a daily occurrence. Tuchman has witnessed cars crashing past her house in the middle of the night on many occasions. Tuchman, who owns a triplex with her husband, Michael, frequently worries about her tenants, surrounding neighbors and residents further up Corral Canyon.

In 2003 alone, four accidents took place specifically at this intersection, and multiple times, nearby. One of these collisions killed a pedestrian, as cited in a 2003 collision report conducted by the Lost Hills/Malibu Station Sheriff’s Station.

Not all collisions are reported in this total. For instance, an oncoming car hit Tuchman’s neighbor, Farshad Harandy, two months ago after he checked his mailbox. He had suffered severe head injuries and was airlifted to the hospital.

As residents can testify, getting a traffic light installed is no simple ordeal. Multiple factors are taken into consideration when warranting a traffic light; interruption of continuous traffic, peak hour delay and accident reports are among many. In fact, it would take 11 warrants in all for the California Department of Transportation to consider installing the $100,000-$150,000 signal.

The dynamics of this particular intersection are many. Corral Canyon Road is the first opportunity one has to make a U-turn when traveling east on PCH. Drivers many times end up crossing four lanes of traffic unprotected when turning left onto PCH from Corral Canyon Road. Woody Smeck, acting superintendent of the National Park Service, has listed as part of the park’s safety program that staff members are strongly advised not to make left turns from Corral Canyon onto PCH. In a letter he wrote in connection to the expansion of Beau Rivage restaurant, Smeck stated, “There are long delay times to make left turns, thus encouraging unsafe movements and attempts to turn during marginally-adequate gaps.”

The intersection also provides no safe place to cross for beachgoers who often cross PCH from Corral Beach (Dan Blocker State Beach) to the nearby Union 76 gas station.

Leon Diaz, a cashier at the Union 76 station, constantly sees beach visitors crossing four lanes of highway, with traffic often exceeding 55 miles per hour, to come to his store. “Two days ago, this guy was trying to cross the street and nearly got run over,” he said. “I see it almost all the time. I see a lot of near accidents.” For many years, Diaz has been an advocate for installing a traffic light at the intersection, and helps gather signatures for the petition from incoming customers.

Not only are pedestrians possibly at risk during the day, but also, as Neiter said, wedding parties, couples and families dining at Beau Rivage restaurant often cross PCH to take pictures during twilight hours or later, and face even worse visibility from approaching cars.

Sameer Haddadeen, senior transportation engineer of Caltrans from Los Angeles to the Ventura County Line on PCH, will be overseeing a study on how the highway and road are defined. Neiter requested the study be conducted during August, the peak month of summer traffic. Neiter and Tuchman were discouraged that Caltrans defined Corral Canyon as a four-lane road, when for 99 percent of it, they argued, it has only two lanes.

“The south-bound approach is two lanes,” Haddadeen said. “What they were asking us to assume is there is only one lane to the intersection, when in reality, there are two.” Haddedeen said the number of petitions is not arbitrary as there is a need to respond to the public concern for safety. “It takes only one call to start my study,” he said.

However, the decision of whether Corral Canyon is considered an urban street or a rural minor street greatly increases the requirements to fill all 11 warrants at the intersection, making the likelihood for the “need” of a traffic light much less. “Frankly people lose sight of what’s really important,” Neiter said. “Their interpretation of the warrant is incorrect. And while we argue over technicalities, the fact is it’s a very dangerous intersection.”

State Sen. Sheila Kuehl is arranging a meeting with Tuchman, Neiter and Caltrans. Tuchman and Neiter are optimistic about the outcome of the petition and new study, and believe that this time the city will be more helpful in warranting this intersection a traffic light.