Widening Rejected for Laguna Canyon’s Dangerous Highway

The Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday unanimously rejected a conceptual plan to realign Laguna Canyon Road from two lanes to four lanes, setting up a confrontation with state transportation officials over a widening plan before the state Coastal Commission.

Instead, the council adopted modifications for the road, including a concrete center divider and flashing lights at either end of a dangerous curve in the roadway known as Big Bend, where 30 people have been killed in car accidents in the last 10 years.

“We’ve been asked to participate in our own destruction,” Councilman Neil Fitzpatrick said before voting against realignment. His statement drew applause from about 100 residents at the meeting.

Council members, in rejecting realignment, argued that a four-lane highway would increase traffic into coastal Laguna Beach. They also said the project would destroy the natural beauty of the undeveloped canyon.

Twisting, Two-Lane Road

Caltrans and city staff members have been working together to devise improvements to reduce fatalities on the twisting, two-lane road, which connects Laguna Beach with inland Orange County at the San Diego and Santa Ana freeways. The main concern is the Big Bend stretch of Laguna Canyon Road between El Toro Road and Canyon Acres Drive.

Officials for the California Department of Transportation favor a plan that would realign Big Bend, which curves around a scenic hillside. But city officials have objected, preferring to preserve as much of the natural canyon as possible, making the road safer while protecting the environment and retaining the canyon’s scenic beauty.

The plan rejected Tuesday night by the council was a modification of one rejected by council members in November. That proposal had also been drafted by city staff members and Caltrans officials.

The plan rejected by the council in November called for widening Laguna Canyon Road from two lanes to four along Big Bend. Council members asked Caltrans officials and city staff members to return with a new plan.

In the meantime, however, Caltrans has submitted the rejected plan to the California Coastal Commission for approval, while continuing to work with the city to devise a cooperative plan.

‘We Are Moving Forward’

Caltrans senior engineer Ron Kazinski said the agency is willing to listen to residents’ concerns but “we are moving forward with the Coastal Commission at the current design.”

Council members encouraged the more than 30 residents who spoke to attend the Coastal Commission meeting in Marina del Rey next month.

The Caltrans proposal submitted to the Coastal Commission would widen the highway to four 12-foot lanes, with an eight-foot shoulder and bicycle path on each side, plus medians of various heights that would stretch the entire length of the project.

The council’s action Tuesday night calls for increasing the safety of the highway at Big Bend, not by realigning it, but rather by installing a concrete divider, a stop light near the curve and flashing caution lights at each end of the curve.