The Brief

Malibu planning officials will vote on a development permit on Monday that could unlock or jeopardize nearly $55 million in state funding intended to improve Pacific Coast Highway.

The California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, is proposing a two-part repavement project along the historic highway in Malibu that it said will rehabilitate the roadway, minimize the need for future maintenance work and add a series of road features that will make cyclists and pedestrians safer and more mobile.

The first segment of that plan, involving work from Cross Creek Road to the Ventura County line, is what’s currently up for approval.

“If this is shot down for whatever reason, then we're a bunch of fools,” said Michel Shane, a film producer who became a road safety activist after a driver killed his daughter, Emily, on Pacific Coast Highway in 2010.

Not everyone is on board.

As much was clear at a Malibu City Planning Commission meeting on Oct. 20, when community members and some commissioners claimed in a four hour-long debate that the proposed additions of sidewalks, streetlights and unprotected bike lanes threaten the “rural” character of the city and don’t contribute to the road’s safety.

During two particularly heated moments, the assistant city attorney reminded the commissioners of the rules of public decorum.

Commissioners left that meeting without approving the permit. Instead, they asked state transportation officials for additional information and proposed modifications to its plans. The commissioners set to hear the state’s response and decide on the permit on Nov. 3.

The first segment of the project extends from Cross Creek Road to the Ventura County Line.

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What’s the urgency of the vote?

A spokesperson for Caltrans District 7, which encompasses the L.A. area, said that it needs approval for the first segment of the two-part road rehabilitation project in November so that the department can begin eliciting bids from contractors and get approval from the state’s transportation commission at its January meeting.

“If we can’t make that timeline, the funding will lapse,” the spokesperson said in an email.

Funding for the project is from the State Highway Operation and Protection Program.

The total cost of the project is around $73 million, according to the Caltrans spokesperson. Of that amount, Caltrans estimates $53 million will be used for construction. The spokesperson added that these numbers are not "final," which means the project could end up costing more.

Concerns over safety on Pacific Coast Highway are heightened

Caltrans officials, Malibu’s public works director and an L.A. County Sheriff's sergeant participated in a safety audit of a 21-mile-long stretch of Pacific Coast Highway at the beginning of 2024.

According to a draft version of the audit, the team recommended a host of improvements that were included in the pavement rehabilitation project Caltrans proposed to the Malibu Planning Commission.

Those include installing Class II bike lanes, which designate a section of the road for cyclists but don't include physical protection, as well as enhancing street lighting where there was observed foot traffic and more continuous sidewalks.

The audit came just a few months after four Pepperdine students were killed on the highway by a speeding driver.

In total, between 2018 and 2023, 15 people died in collisions on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu, according to data from the draft audit.

“Each time, we hear condolences, messages of heavy hearts, thoughts and prayers,” Justin Orenstein, the transportation affairs deputy for L.A. County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, told Malibu planning commissioners on Oct. 20. “You have an opportunity this evening to help prevent this from happening again.”

Orenstein added that Horvath’s support for the project is “unwavering.”

Where’s the controversy?

While the commission was able to agree at its October meeting about the need for guardrails and curb ramps along the highway, contentions rose over a proposed sidewalk in front of Pepperdine University, the recommendation to install 42 new streetlights and Class II bike lanes.

The sidewalk in front of Pepperdine would extend from John Tyler Road to Malibu Canyon Road and was one of the improvements identified in the 2024 audit. Commissioners pushed back on the idea given Pepperdine’s concerns over emergency vehicle access to campus.

In a statement, the university said it supports overall safety improvements to Pacific Coast Highway and is requesting the proposed sidewalk be further evaluated “to ensure it is addressing a safety concern and does not unintentionally create new risks for pedestrians or emergency operations that serve our campus.”

A Caltrans official speaking at the October meeting said any curbs would be mountable by emergency vehicles.

The most controversial of the planned sidewalks is the one from Malibu Canyon Road to John Tyler Drive in front of Pepperdine University.

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The commissioners asked Caltrans to engage in further discussions with Pepperdine and surrounding residential communities about the sidewalk.

The debate about streetlights, which Caltrans has proposed adding in areas it says experienced nighttime collisions, became one about preserving the city’s character. Many residents at the meeting expressed concerns that the lights will cloud their view of the dark starry night even though state transportation officials said all lights will comply with the Dark Sky Ordinance.

Commissioners asked Caltrans to reduce the total number of new streetlights and to only recommend them at intersections as opposed to along the roadway.

Caltrans is also expected to come back to the commission with recommendations to make its proposed bike lanes more continuous and an evaluation on the effects on parking availability that would have.

One part of a whole

The road rehabilitation project is just one of several Pacific Coast Highway safety initiatives in the works.

The city is developing a pilot program to test how two roundabouts on Pacific Coast Highway reduce speed. Malibu is also one of a handful of California cities testing out speed safety cameras that, once up and running, will automatically ticket violating drivers. The road rehabilitation program is also separate from a longer-term plan Caltrans is developing involving the addition of protected bike lanes among other improvements.

Malibu Councilmember Haylynn Conrad, who ran a campaign focused on Pacific Coast Highway safety, supports the road rehabilitation plan.

“It's a tool amongst other tools that we need to make this stretch of roadway safer for generations to come,” she said.

If approved, the project would begin construction next spring and finish at the end of 2028.