The Public Safety Commission gives updates on the PCH sewer project, and proposes a memorial at Legacy Park for traffic accidents victims.
By Dick Dornan / Special to The Malibu Times
As summer descends and Malibu prepares for an influx of millions of visitors to its coastline, a construction project on Pacific Coast Highway that will impede traffic has begun and already created traffic delays.
The $10 million Coastal Interceptor Relief Sewer (CIRS) Project along Pacific Coast Highway, between Temescal Canyon Road and Entrada Drive, in the area southeast of Malibu began May 31 and will conclude by the fall of 2012.
The Los Angeles Department of Public Works is upgrading the city’s sewer system to comply with water quality requirements by reducing stormwater runoff. Work is taking place in the Pacific Palisades area and the city has installed concrete barriers (K-rails) along the west side of the highway for the project. The barriers will be in place the next two months.
During construction, one southbound lane of PCH will be closed from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m., and two southbound lanes will be closed from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. Monday through Friday. There will also be loss of beach parking in the area.
About 3,100 feet of the sewer will be built on Pacific Coast Highway, and 1,400 feet in the parking lots for Will Rogers Beach and Santa Monica Beach Club.
In addition to the CIRS project, another stormwater project that will affect Pacific Coast Highway at Temescal Canyon is expected to begin in July. It is not yet known what impact it will have on highway traffic.
Both projects are funded with the Proposition O Clean Water Bond. In 2004, Los Angeles voters appropriated $500 million for stormwater pollution-prevention projects.
Additional information on the CIRS project and other projects affecting traffic flow along PCH can be found online at www.PCHPartners.org
City considers memorial for traffic victims
The Public Safety Commission at its meeting last week decided to recommend to City Council to build a memorial wall at Legacy Park that will honor and remember the traffic fatalities that have occurred in the city of Malibu. Names and pictures of the victims will adorn the proposed memorial wall.
This wall would raise safety awareness and also bring to light the fact that a life was lost and will never be forgotten.
The Public Safety Commission will also look into the street light at Cross Creek Road and Pacific Coast Highway. There have been public complaints of a delay in the timing of the signal light heading northbound and with the summer ahead there could be potential traffic issues.
In addition, there have been similar public complaints of the street light at Topanga Canyon Road and PCH heading southbound involving the signal timing.
Caltrans will examine the views and concerns of the Public Safety Commission and the Malibu community for Pacific Coast Highway and Kanan Road over the next month.