Caltrans survey results indicate respondents favor a landscaped median

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Photo by Samantha Bravo/TMT.

State agency holds sixth public workshop for PCH plan at Malibu City Hall

Caltrans held its sixth public workshop for the Pacific Coast Highway Master Plan Feasibility Study on Wednesday, Oct. 23, at City Hall, and presented updates on design alternatives and safety recommendations based on the community’s input.

“The purposes and objectives of our Caltrans feasibility study were to analyze existing conditions on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, identify projects to reduce the number and severity of crashes and to plan safer travel options for pedestrians and bicyclists,” said Ryan Snyder, a representative of the Caltrans District 7 Division of Transportation Planning Office’s Multimodal System Planning Department during the presentation at Malibu City Hall. “By our measure, a 22-mile portion of PCH is within Malibu city limits and we aim to improve the character of the highway so it fits better into the community, preserves and enhances emergency vehicle access and provides safe evacuation routes.”

Snyder reported that the agency had stakeholder meetings with local residents, city staff, the California Highway Patrol, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s office, the Los Angeles County Fire Department, the Malibu Labor Exchange, representatives of the administration, staff, faculty, and student body at Pepperdine University, the California Coastal Commission, Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority, the Malibu Pacific Palisades Chamber of Commerce and representatives from Streets for All and Streets for Everyone. 

Snyder explained that Caltrans sent surveys out to residents and others and the agency received 1,225 responses, with only 160 of the respondents indicating they were affiliated with Malibu. 

“Because PCH in Malibu is a state highway, voices from the outside must be heard,” Snyder said. “Of the 160 respondents indicating an affiliation of some kind with Malibu, 68 percent indicated that they were recreational visitors, 9 percent stated they were local employees, 2 percent were local business owners and another 7 percent stated they were otherwise affiliated with Malibu.”

“In the surveys, the option of making no changes to the highway came in dead last,” he stated. “Some respondents only wanted parking on one side of the highway — the beach side. Others preferred that we adopt a National Park-like option, with some parts of Malibu being cordoned off and people being dropped off and picked up in a central area and being transported on buses or shuttles to beaches.”

The 8 to 80 principle: A new California law mandates bike lanes throughout all of Malibu on PCH 

“Governor Newsom has signed SB 689, making it easier for local governments to amend their Local Coastal Programs, which are required coastal planning documents approved by the Coastal Commission, when adding bike lanes, dedicated transit lanes or pedestrian walkways to projects,” Snyder said.  

Reviewing other survey results, he informed that protected bike lanes were heavily favored over striped bike lanes and one-way bike lanes that would be protected on both sides were slightly favored over two-way protected bike lanes.

Complete Streets on Caltrans Corridors, SB 960, is now the law, Snyder emphasized, explaining that Caltrans now has a mandate to update California’s state highways and roads to serve all users, including bicyclists and pedestrians, when it does maintenance projects. The Complete Streets law includes requiring Caltrans to improve its use of State Highway Operation and Protection Program funds to build bikeways, sidewalks and bus boarding islands.  

“SB 960 mandates that we create bike lanes for the entire length of PCH in Malibu.” He said. “In what is often referredto as the 8 to 80 principle, we must adhere to the concept that bike lanes should be safe for any users between the ages of 8 and 80.  We propose that we build buffered/colored and/or protected bike lanes on Las Flores on the mountain sideas well as between Las Flores Road and the Malibu Pier area and between the Pier area and the western city limits.”

Survey results indicate respondents favor a landscaped median

“A landscaped median was very strongly favored for the central part of Malibu, parking on one side of PCH and parking on both sides were about equally favored and parking on the beach side was favored over parking on the mountain side,” Snyder recounted, displaying several renderings of how such construction would change the look of Malibu and how the various improvements and alterations to the existing highway could result in lane reductions or deletions. 

“Tree canopies provide shade and beautify a thorough fare and they also are a traffic calming measure,” he added. “We are considering having such trees from Las Flores Road to the Malibu Pier.”

Slowing down traffic between Las Flores and Malibu Pier and throughout PCH in Malibu 

Discussing “the key tools in Caltrans’ toolbox,” Snyder addressed the use of roundabouts, which he stated were very effective in reducing bad accidents, according to traffic studies.

“The research is solid that roundabouts can reduce both the number of crashes and the severity of crashes,” he said, adding that the candidate intersections for roundabouts in Malibu included Webb Way, the confluence of Bonsall Drive and Westward Beach Road, Broad Beach Road, El Matador, La Piedra and El Pescador beaches, and Decker Road. 

“Building new sidewalks that are ADA-complaint is mandated by SB 960 and sidewalks are desperately needed from Las Flores Road to Carbon Canyon Road, an area where there are virtually no sidewalks and we need to do some spot improvements on sidewalks west of Carbon Canyon Road as well,” Snyder added. “The use of angled parking would also help increase safety from Cross Creek Road to Webb Way on the beach side and we are also recommending the building of ADA-compliant crosswalks near the bus stops and adding sidewalks where we propose to have angled parking for beach access.” 

Caltrans, Snyder noted, “wants to eliminate the situation where people are parking along the busy highway on the land side and have to walk across the highway to gain access to the beach as well as situations where people who park on the ocean side do not have the use of sidewalks.” 

Accordingly, he indicated, Caltrans is exploring the possibility of having staggered parking from Puerco Canyon to Latigo Beach, at Winding Way, near Paradise Cove and west of Trancas Canyon Road. “We also are considering reverse-in angled parking near El Matador, La Piedra, El Pescador and Nicholas Beaches,” he said. 

Proposed new or improved signalized pedestrian crosswalks

Snyder discussed areas where pedestrian crosswalks are needed, most notably at the Rambla Vista bus stop, Carbon Beach East access, and Carbon Beach West access areas and bus stops, areas that he opined should be upgraded from the existing pedestrian beacons.  

“Currently, the city is working on improving pedestrian crossings at the Moonshadows bus stop, at the La Costa Beach Access point, at Corral Beach, and at the Sara Wan trailhead,” he explained. 

Gateways

“Gateways to a city welcome locals and visitors to a city and slow down drivers,” Snyder stated, displaying a rendering with a high arch structure stating “Malibu” above the thoroughfare. “The various options for such gateways in Malibu are at the Rambla Vista, Serra Road and a Webb Way Roundabout.” 

In some municipalities, the design and construction of such gateways have been funded through private-public partnerships after design contests have been conducted, he noted.

Lane configuration adjustments

Many of the proposals Snyder detailed would necessitate narrowing or eliminating lanes of traffic and center turn lanes. Snyder noted that Caltrans will investigate grading slopes adjacent to homes for better access from the south City of Malibu limit to Las Flores Rd.

“We also are exploring inserting rubber curbing into the median for emergency vehicles from Rambla Vista Road to Serra Road and on to Cross Creek Road and even further on to Webb Way and as far as to Paradise Cove, Trancas Canyon Road and the state beaches further west and possibly all the way to the North City limit,” he said.

Global Improvements

Finally, Snyder addressed planned global improvements throughout Malibu’s segment of the PCH, stating that Caltrans proposes to upgrade all multi-lane pedestrian crossings of PCH to user-activated pedestrian signals wherever there are four or more lanes, to move advance stop lines back to between 6 and 8 feet from the crosswalks, to add bus shelters, maps, schedules and good access to all bus stops, and to add pedestrian signal crossings at all bus stops wherever there are four or more lanes.

Possible vehicle-to-everything V2X Applications

In what proved to be a very lengthy meeting, attendees’ interest level palpably piqued when Snyder and Rob DuBoux, public works director for the City of Malibu, began to discuss new available technology that can be deployed to address the need to increase safety on the PCH. 

“The technology exists for motorists to have a transponder in a vehicle that will notify them if they are speeding,” Snyder explained. 

“Our new safety adoption system is a very complicated, programmed system that has innovations that can synchronize all signals on PCH from Topanga to John Tyler and if motorists speed, they will encounter red lights further along the highway,” DuBoux said. “Whereas, if they are going the speed limit. they will more likely encounter all green lights.”

The technology also exists to have cameras that communicate in real time with the Sheriff’s Department, to allow for authorities to warn drivers with transponders about safety hazards in real time, and for emergency vehicles to communicate to drivers that they are approaching and drivers need to yield the right of way, Snyder and DuBoux explained. 

“In the future, there will be technology available for authorities to communicate with drivers when they are speeding,” Snyder said.  

The timing of all the projects — a phased plan 

Quite predictably, discussion turned to how long it would take to implement each of the myriad of planned and considered safety improvements for PCH in Malibu.

“Short-term projects that will take between a few months up to five years include striping, signing, and adding rubber curbing, and we will possibly construct a temporary roundabout at some point along Pacific Coast Highway,” Snyder said. “Medium-term projects, most notably constructing more permanent structures in the highest priority area between Las Flores to the Malibu Pier, will most likely take between approximately six to 10 years, while long-term projects consisting of fully-constructed roundabouts and other concrete features, may take between 11 to 20 years and those timelines are all dependent on funding.”

What wasn’t considered in the Caltrans feasibility study

All of the projects discussed in the presentation addressed possible alterations and improvements to PCH within the currently paved highway. There was no discussion of any government — state, county or local — exercising the right of condemnation. Indeed, Snyder noted that to assess whether condemnation could be exercised in any area, the agency would have to conduct a right-of-way audit throughout the PCH in Malibu.

Further, as attendee Hans Laetz informed, neither Caltrans nor the city seemed to have considered any possibility for relinquishment by Caltrans of the PCH corridor in Malibu to the City of Malibu. Relinquishment, a process that other municipalities in California have accomplished, involves Caltrans relinquishing a roadway back to a city or town, thereby empowering a local government to address local roadway challenges and transportation needs. 

Finally, Snyder and Dan Kopulsky, Caltrans District 7 multimodal system planning implementation manager, noted that a city-wide benefit assessment district could be formed by Malibu residents and improvements to PCH could be fundedthrough a bonding process if locals desired to tax themselves.

What’s Next

A follow up meeting is tentatively scheduled for Dec. 7 at City Hall wherein Caltrans will present its draft final study regarding improvements along PCH in Malibu.

For more information

Readers can visit Caltrans’ interactive website at https://engage.dot.ca.gov/07-pchmpfesibilitystudy.com. For more information about the study or to provide comments to Caltrans, readers can contact: 07-pchmpfs@publicinput.com.