One year ago, Congress defunded public media. Now that we're 100% community funded, please become a sustaining member or increase your existing membership today.
Traffic Signals On Pacific Coast Highway To Be Installed To Slow Traffic
PCH in Malibu.
(
sykosam
/
The Creative Commons on Flickr
)
A new project is underway along a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway will make traffic signals smarter and slow down speeding drivers, officials say.
About the project
The project will install communication lines between John Taylor Drive and Topanga Canyon Boulevard. The lines will synch the traffic signals to current traffic conditions and then feed that data to the Caltrans Traffic Management Center to regulate speeds.
Drivers traveling at the speed limit will see mostly green lights. For those driving above the speed limit, the system will make sure they encounter more red lights.
Why it matters
This stretch of PCH is also known as Dead Man's Curve. Along that stretch, four Pepperdine students died two months ago.
Sponsored message
More than 4,000 traffic collisions have happened there in the past decade, according to Malibu city officials.
"That dead man’s curve area has been highlighted as one of the real dangerous spots on PCH, so we’re covering some of the areas where there have been a number of accidents and so hopefully that will calm that section down a little bit," Malibu Mayor Steve Uhring said.
Why now
The project has been a long time coming. The Traffic Signals Synchronization project was approved by the Malibu City Council in 2017, as part of the Pacific Coast Highway Safety Plan from 2015.
Uhring said that because Caltrans controls everything on PCH from speed limits to safety improvements, it's been up to them to start the project.
In a statement to LAist, Caltrans says the city of Malibu is responsible for the timeline of the project, given that it was implemented by the city. Caltrans' role was to provide oversight and the permits necessary to move forward with the project.
For now, commuters will experience alternating lane closures in both directions, but mostly on the right hand side. Work hours are from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. During the summer (from Memorial Day to Labor Day), work hours will be from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. and some nighttime hours. Construction should be completed in a year.
Sponsored message
Updated December 5, 2023 at 12:07 PM PST
This story was updated with a response from Caltrans
One year ago, Congress voted to defund public media, eliminating a critical $1.7 million from our budget every year going forward. But they couldn’t silence us, and we’re not going anywhere. LAist is now 100% community funded and that means we’re taking our future into our own hands and turning to you to keep local reporting strong.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
Senior Vice President News, Editor in Chief
