The City of Malibu decided to extend its contract with traffic engineering firm Kimley-Horn even after the company came under fire for its controversial traffic findings, a decision ratified by City Council at their Monday, Aug. 10 meeting.
Kimley-Horn and Associates, the firm that has provided traffic engineering services to the city since Aug. 2013, had their contract with the city extended for an additional year and will continue providing Malibu with its services.
“We’ve been really satisfied with the quality of services Kimley-Horn … has provided. They’ve been very professional,” said City Manager Jim Thorsen.
Kimley-Horn’s recent traffic study came under heavy criticism when the firm found that peak traffic through the Civic Center had remained the same over 20 years. Many interpreted this as contradictory to findings released by California State Parks and Lifeguards, which stated that Malibu beach traffic had actually increased nearly 60 percent in recent years.
“In my opinion, it’s kind of asinine for us to adopt a traffic study that says the traffic on PCH has remained the same or gone down over a certain period of time,” said City Council Member Skylar Peak during a July meeting.
Skeptical local residents went as far as hiring their own traffic engineering company to do a study.
However, a closer examination and a clearer explanation helped to vindicate the report.
“Average daily traffic did increase … what we have seen is that the data shows the peak period is spreading,” said Sri Chakravarthy, a traffic engineer with Kimley-Horn, during the same July meeting.
Traffic during peak hours has remained characteristically high; therefore, the conclusion was accurate in stating that peak traffic conditions have remained unchanged, according to Kimley-Horn. It’s the traffic during off-peak hours that has increased. This explanation has not satisfied many residents.
The City of Malibu decided to utilize a provision in the original Aug. 2013 contract with Kimley-Horn which provided for a one-year contract extension if the city found the firm’s services to be satisfactory. The contract is now set to expire in Aug. 2016.