SAN CLEMENTE : El Camino Real to Stay Closed Awhile

City officials confirmed Friday that it will take months to repair unstable bluffs that have kept El Camino Real closed for almost two weeks.

Faced with a long-term closure of the important highway, City Manager Michael T. Parness said the city hopes to have at least two lanes open in two or three weeks.

A large-scale excavation of the cliffs will be needed to stabilize the bluffs, which are riddled with large fissures.

“The problems are more substantial than we thought,” Parness said. “We’re not talking days anymore or even weeks. It could be a couple of months” before the bluffs are excavated.

The coastal highway was shut down for a mile between Avenida Pico and Avenida Palizada on Feb. 5.

Parness said a partial reopening of the highway might be possible if utility companies could reroute major power and telephone lines that are hooked to a series of poles below the cliffs. The telephone cables are the major phone link between Los Angeles and San Diego.

City representatives met with utilities officials Friday, and Parness said utility planners would present a proposal next week to move the lines.

Engineers have identified a 1,800-foot stretch where repairs need to be made, but an exact excavation plan and cost estimates have not been prepared.

Crane operators working to remove a 75-foot-wide chunk of earth Wednesday caused a minor landslide that knocked down a small section of power lines, causing a temporary power outage in San Clemente and parts of Dana Point.

About 18,000 cars travel El Camino Real daily in each direction, city staff members said. Businesses along Camino Capistrano, a main feeder road into the coastal highway, say sales have plummeted because of the closure.

“With all the northbound and southbound traffic gone, we’ve just been hurting for business,” said Dana Jungles, an employee of Herbie Fletcher Surf Shop, which is located on Camino Capistrano,

Parness said San Clemente merchants are planning to gather at City Hall before Wednesday night’s City Council meeting.