The length of Pacific Coast Highway through Malibu has long been a dangerous place for drivers, walkers, and bikers, but a proposal coming before the Malibu City Council tonight outlines a bundle of about 130 street improvement projects, big and small, aimed at making the highway safer for all, says the Santa Monica Mirror. The possible improvements are part of a huge, three-year safety study that attempts to pinpoint and remedy some of the biggest factors in making PCH so dangerous.
The Pacific Coast Highway Safety Study took aim at free street parking along PCH, finding that those free spots are much more attractive than pay options near beaches, and that means there are lots of people trying to parallel park while traffic whizzes by at 40 to 55 miles an hour.
Also dangerous is that parked cars, buses, cyclists, and people on foot are all sharing shoulder space without any real designated space for any of them. The competition that ensues, plus the "Inconsistent 'no parking' signs and red curbs" create an environment where crashes are just waiting to happen.
To help alleviate these and other scary conditions on PCH, the study suggests many, many fixes, including extending Malibu's new, $1.1-million bike lane (currently running from Leo Carrillo Beach to Zuma Beach) so it runs for all of PCH within Malibu city limits, though it adds that the lane should be added in a way that doesn't take away street parking. (Residents have vocally opposed losing their street parking, of course.) Other suggested safety upgrades include road widening and realignment at Las Flores Canyon Road ("the city's most- hazardous area"), a new bridge over Zuma Creek, taking signals out (at Rambla Pacifico, for example), putting in street lights, and installing two new traffic circles.
Maps of recommended projects along the entirety of PCH are right here.
· After PCH Fatalities, Malibu Considers $20 Million PCH Safety Plan [SMM]
· Pacific Coast Highway Safety Study [Official site]
· Malibu Looking to Make PCH Safer For Drivers, Walkers, Bikers [Curbed LA]
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