Massive Beams Placed for Pedestrian Walk in Capistrano Beach

Four massive concrete beams were put in place Wednesday over the Coast Highway and the Santa Fe Railway tracks in Capistrano Beach near a section of roadway where four pedestrians have been killed in the last two years.

The beams, weighing a total of 170 tons, are part of a pedestrian walkway. When final touches are added within the next few weeks, residents in a rapidly developing complex of motels, health spas and time-share condominiums beneath the bluffs on the inland side of the highway will be able to reach the sands of Doheny State Beach without danger from vehicles or trains.

The bridge will cost $300,000, said Paul Douglas, project manager for the inland developments.

The pedestrian fatalities “happened at night and the victims were not beachgoers,” said Officer Ken Daily, spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. “But we do believe the bridge will be a help, since it has access stairways on both sides of the road as well as on the beach.”

Hal Doerksen, chief ranger for the Pendleton Coast District of the state Department of Parks and Recreation, which includes Doheny State Beach, said no policy has yet been adopted on whether or how persons crossing the bridge will be charged for use of the beach, as are other visitors who enter at the main gate in Dana Point.

“We’ll have to wait and evaluate the numbers (who cross the bridge) and their impact on the park,” he said.