DANA POINT : Coast Highway Reopening Date Moved Back Again

Motorists waiting for a one-mile section of Pacific Coast Highway to reopen should remain patient.

Recent rain and other unforeseen trouble has moved the reopening date to as late as mid-March, said Morton August, city director of public works and engineering services.

“We had some minor setbacks along the way,” August said Thursday.

Officials first hoped to have the job finished in January. Last month, they changed their estimate to mid-February.

The portion of highway connecting Dana Point and San Clemente has been closed since February, 1993, when a bluff collapsed during heavy rains, sending down 44,000 tons of dirt and debris. Four San Clemente houses on La Ventana above the highway were lost in the landslide and a fifth suffered significant damage.

A $3.1-million project to shore up the bluff and clear the highway began last July.

On Tuesday night, the Dana Point City Council will consider approving an additional $200,000 for the project, bringing its total cost to $3.3 million, August said.

The extra money is needed because of a miscalculation by a city-hired engineering firm on an area being covered by artificial rock, August said. The money is also needed to extend a contract for the project’s managers.

August said that the artificial-rock miscalculation did not delay the project and that the city will be reimbursed for the additional money by the Federal Highway Administration and state Office of Highway Administration.