DANA POINT : Pacific Coast Highway to Reopen Next Month
The reopening of Pacific Coast Highway, closed because of a landslide, will be delayed until mid-February.
The recent rains brought construction on the bluffs to a complete halt, city officials said.
The bluffs, just below an affluent San Clemente neighborhood, are being reinforced after having collapsed in a February, 1993, mudslide. A mass of rubble tumbled downhill covering four lanes of the highway and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad tracks.
Reconstruction of the bluffs began last July and was expected to be completed at the end of January.
“We recognize everyone is anxious to reopen the highway and we are too,” said Mort August, director of public works and engineering services for Dana Point. “We are going to do our darndest to open it as quickly as possible.”
The rains delayed work but did not damage the construction currently underway, August said. He added that if another storm hits the Southland, construction would be further delayed.
The project is about two-thirds complete, but irrigation must also be installed before the road opens. The portion of the highway that is closed is used to store construction materials, concrete trucks and pumps, and for construction staging.
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