Drivers may want to avoid Malibu Canyon Road between Tuesday and Thursday this week, as Southern California Edison (SCE) plans on stopping up traffic intermittently to install a new switch onto one of its utility poles.
Work began at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning, though the City of Malibu did not send out an alert about the construction until 11:30 a.m., and is scheduled to carry on from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
“The construction on Malibu Canyon near HRL Laboratories, between the Malibu city limits and Potter Road, will require a temporary closure of the northbound lane during construction hours will allow SCE ample room to work safely on the installation of the new switch,” according to a statement from the City of Malibu.
The new switch should improve Edison’s ability to reroute power sources if an outage occurs, according to SCE spokesman Mark Olson.
Olson said the work was not related to a recent settlement in which Edison admitted one of its poles failed and caused a 2007 Malibu Canyon wildfire. Along with paying $20 million to the state, Edison agreed to use $17 million to inspect all its existing equipment in Malibu.