SAN CLEMENTE : El Camino Real Is Reopened to Traffic

A temporary reprieve in the five-week closure of El Camino Real has been granted to commuters.

Shortly before noon Wednesday, the barricades came off and, for the first time since the coastal highway was shut down on Feb. 5, traffic flowed through two lanes of the vital north-south city artery.

“What a relief,” said Christopher Haster, a Dana Point resident who works in San Clemente. “This will cut about 15 minutes off my travel time to work.”

But city officials warned that the road, which is threatened by unstable bluffs looming 50 feet over it, would be closed again in two to three weeks when excavation begins to stabilize the cliffs. El Camino Real will be partially reopened by about May 15, said City Manager Michael T. Parness.

The California Coastal Commission on Monday issued an emergency permit to authorize a massive excavation that will carve about 310,000 cubic yards of earth out of an 1,800-foot section of the bluffs.

Coastal Commission officials admitted that granting permission for such large-scale repair work was unusual, but they acknowledged that the huge crevices lacing the cliff-tops could cause a landslide.

“The whole thing could go at any time,” said Tom Crandell of the Coastal Commission on Tuesday.

Cement barriers are in place to protect El Camino Real’s two open lanes and accompanying bicycle path from a potential land spill.

City officials hope to complete the excavation project by July 1.

San Clemente merchants, motorists and bicyclists have been hit hardest by the closure.

Bicyclists had to detour miles out of their way. And traffic faced five- to 10-minute waits near the Avenida Pico freeway interchange, the main alternate route.

Some shop owners said that Wednesday’s reopening was a mixed blessing because of the impending closure.