City Unveils Specific Plan To Handle PCH Evacuation Crush

Detailed plans for evacuating Malibu are out for public comment.

After last year’s chaos and traffic jam on PCH … the city hired a traffic engineer to draw up detailed plans.

The plan splits Malibu into four quarters …and details what it calls ideal evacuation routes for each zone.

But it acknowledges that in most disasters … evacuation from Malibu will be to the east … into the traffic morass of Los Angeles and Santa Monica.

The Malibu evacuation plan sets forth several levels of evacuation contingencies.

Level A would be to deploy generators and hook them up to the traffic lights.

This would be done when power blackout warnings are issued by the Edison Company.

Level B … fire up the generators  …. when the power goes out … to keep the traffic lights working.

Level C … allow sheriff’s deputies to switch the traffic lights to manual control … to override the timers.

This would give deputies control of the signal … and provide for continuous green for either PCH or cross traffic as needed..

Level D would use the center left turn lanes as merge lanes …. to allow traffic coming down canyons to merge into eastbound PCH traffic without interrupting that eastbound flow … towards Santa Monica.

But this would require sheriff’s deputies to stand in the road to direct traffic … that’s dangerous … something they are somewhat reluctant to do.

and this would require removing the yellow paddles in the center of the road in some places … like at Las Flores Road.

And Level E would add a third eastbound lane … in some parts of the eastern area of the city.

The proposed plan includes blueprints for each intersection … showing exactly where sheriff’s deputies would stand and what they would have to do.

This city plan requires buy in from several outside agencies … most especially the sheriffs office … the CHP … L A County … and Caltrans.

And it doesn’t address the big elephant in the room.

That’s the City of Los Angeles.

The City of LA owns PCH east of Topanga Beach.

And as we learned last week … they are not shy about suddenly closing off traffic from Malibu if they want to evacuate Pacific Palisades.

And give them priority over traffic heading to or from Malibu.

L A just demonstrated that it does not talk to the other cities … before taking unilateral action on P C H.

And LAPD and their Department of Transportation has proven over the years that they do not make traffic flow to and from malibu to be any sort of priority.

It goes before the Public Safety Commission for a public hearing next Wednesday.

We have a link to the comprehensive plan .. posted on the KBUU Newswire later today.

malibucity.org/AgendaCenter/ViewFile/Agenda/_11062019-1413