SAN CLEMENTE : Reopening of PCH Pleases Merchants

A heavily traveled stretch of Pacific Coast Highway was reopened Thursday afternoon after being closed for nearly a month because of storm damage and construction work.

The opening of the highway from Avenida Pico to Camino Capistrano was welcome news to about a dozen business owners who have lost up to 90% of their sales since the highway closed Jan. 16 during torrential rainstorms.

“We were yelling and screaming, but it helped,” said Jim Nudo, owner of Herbie Fletcher Surf Shop, located off the highway near Avenida Pico.

Within minutes of the reopening about 3:30 p.m., Nudo said he had numerous calls from customers. Several even stopped by to shop.

“Instead of avoiding this end of town, they’re coming by,” he said. “We’re really happy, for the first time in months.”

At the other end of the one-mile stretch of highway, businesses off Camino Capistrano also cheered the reopening.

“This is a little off the beaten path anyway,” said Randy Gant, owner of Yummy Yogurt, located off Via Cascadita near the Department of Motor Vehicles. “If you can’t get here the main way, it’s a lot harder.”

In Dana Point, a leg of Coast Highway from Camino Capistrano to Palisades Drive remained closed Thursday as officials await the findings of a geological report about potential slide problems on the adjacent bluffs.

“With the last rains we had, there was no additional debris that came down to the road, but there is movement on the slope itself,” Dana Point City Engineer Dennis Jue said. “We just want to make sure everything is safe.”

Officials in both cities closed the two-lane highway because of storm damage to the roadway and to several homes perched atop the unstable bluffs bordering the highway.

Road crews in San Clemente also have been working to finish a 10-month-old South Coast Water District pipeline project, which has contributed to the delay in allowing traffic back on the highway.

By Thursday morning, crews were finishing up the last of the re-striping work for the water pipe project and for a new bike lane, San Clemente City Engineer William Cameron said. New fences and guard rails also line the highway to help prevent debris and mud from slipping to the road from the bluffs.