KBUU Newswire Thursday: After TV Cameras Leave Malibu, What Did Caltrans Really Announce About PCH? A News Analysis
Written by 991KBU on December 21, 2023
So what exactly is Caltrans proposing for Pacific Coast Highway?
This morning …. KBUU News will take a deep dive into what exactly the state is proposing to fix PCH.
First. … what they are NOT proposing to do.
Caltrans is not proposing anything to reduce the speed limits … either by road engineering or speed limit changes.
Noticeably absent from the list of changes they are making are things like making lanes narrower or reducing the speed limits.
No road diet.
Speed will be brought down to the speed limit … the state says .. with a lot of signs and paint.
Every three miles … on average … the state will paint optical speed bars on the road pavement.
Crosswalks will be changed from parallel lines to ladders at 22 locations.
New or replacement warning and regulatory signs will be placed at approximately 30 locations.
West of Pepperdine … reflectorized delineator markers will be installed along curves.
Traffic detector loops will be replaced as needed.
In other words … paint and signs. This is what passes for emergency changes.
4 point 2 million dollars worth of work .. the contract has been approved … the work will start after the New Year … should be done by April.
Beyond that cosmetic project … comes a repaving project.
This was already in the works … before the fatal crash that killed four two months ago.
It is first and foremost a repaving project … a project that is being repackaged and repurposed as a new safety project. As Caltrans says … the construction project “is a Capital Preventive Maintenance strategy that will extend the service life of the roadway.”
The state will also upgrade select existing curb ramps current Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) standards.
That’s the federal law … new construction must meet ADA standards. It is not a new initiative.
And the Caltrans plan is to consider bike lanes … but only in western Malibu … and only to “look at.”
But look at the proposal, and one will find that is not much of a change either.
Much of PCH might become a Class 3 bike lane … not an actual bike lane … but a bike route … on the roadway …. With share the road signs …. “sharrow” symbols painted on the pavement … but not separated bike lanes.
The Caltrans design manual says “the designation of bike routes should indicate to bicyclists that there are particular advantages to using these routes as compared with alternative routes.”
There are no alternative routes in Malibu.
Western Malibu may get a striped bike lane … like at Zuma Beach … Caltrans is currently being looking at by the state. This from Zuma Beach to Latigo Beach, including the Point Dume and Paradise Cove areas.
That’s being looked at.
The repaving project would also see an upgrade to guard rails and ripping out and replacing the bus stop concrete pads … the ones that Caltrans installed a decade ago.
The state says the exact design for the repaving project relies on Road Safety Audits.
Those safety audits won’t even be finished until five months from now.
The repaving work in eastern Malibu will not begin for three years … that’s late 2026.
Bottom line … paint and signs this spring … and then repaving … in three years.
