Date: May 7, 2024
District: 7- Los Angeles & Ventura Counties
Contact: Marc Bischoff
E-mail: marc.bischoff@dot.ca.gov
X Page: https://twitter.com/CaltransDist7
For Immediate Release
Caltrans Issues Update on Status of Slide
at Pacific Coast Highway and Porto Marina Way
Pacific Palisades - The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) announces a Director’s Order to allow an extra lane on northbound State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway/PCH) at Porto Marina Way, north of Sunset Boulevard, in Pacific Palisades. Caltrans closed the right lane for safety due to a slide that occurred in mid-February and was worsened by a second series of storms in March.
An emergency Caltrans Director’s Order has been requested to fund creating a second northbound lane outside of the closed right lane. A plan to reconfigure the lanes is under design and it must allow the safe and smooth flow of traffic.
There is no additional space in the median to create another lane. Both northbound and southbound lanes will be shifted towards the beach to the shoulder of the current southbound lanes. Construction will involve grinding, paving, restriping and removing lane delineators in the median that are secured with concrete and bolts.
There is another slide just south of this location that is undermining the northbound right lane. Those additional repairs will be included in the Director’s Order.
The project will take up to two weeks to complete. There is no estimated start date for construction at this time, but Caltrans recognizes the severely negative impact to traffic flow and commuters and is expediting the preparation process.
The slide area referred to as the “Tramonto Slide” has been an issue for many years and in the past crews have been able to clear slide debris on the highway to the shoulder to reopen lanes.
This most recent slide originated outside of state/Caltrans right of way, although it continues to encroach onto Caltrans right of way. A joint study was done in 2010 by Caltrans and the City of Los Angeles, one of the property owners. The study documented the history of the slide and recommended that long-term repairs start from the top of the slide. After waiting for weeks for this most recent slide incident to dry out, our Geotechnical Division has determined the unstable nature of the slide prevents Caltrans from removing the debris from the right lane of the highway near the toe of the slide and that repairs still need to start from the top of the slide, which is outside of our jurisdiction and right of way.
Recent research by Caltrans has determined that most of the property near the top of the slide is privately owned and some of it is owned by the city of Los Angeles. Once the slope has been stabilized from the top, Caltrans can continue with repairs at the bottom of the slide.
A permanent resolution to the Tramonto slide area will need to be determined through communication with the owners of the property outside of Caltrans’ right of way. Long-term mitigation may require construction of infrastucture on private property and there is no estimate of when a plan will be established.
Watch for updates on the status of this closure and others on state highways on our social media page at “X” (formerly Twitter) at https://twitter.com/CaltransDist7 . Motorists can view real-time highway closures at https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/