Officials Reopen Lane of Tuna Canyon Road

Five months after landslides forced the closure of Tuna Canyon Road, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works reopened one lane of the heavily damaged mountain road Tuesday, offering Topanga residents an escape route in case of fire.

“I’m thrilled,” said Robin Maxwell, a resident and co-chair of the Tuna Unified Neighborhood Assn. “I wanted a fire exit. . . . This solution more than answers the problems I saw.”

The road, however, is still subject to closure, said Dean Lehman, an assistant district engineer for road maintenance.

“The problems related to Tuna are very extensive and we are still trying to determine the extent of the damage,” he said.

Last winter’s heavy rains caused many landslides throughout the Santa Monica Mountains, including a treacherous near-vertical slide near a double-hairpin curve in the road, just north of Malibu.

Tuna Canyon Road is now open only to southbound traffic. The Department of Public Works has posted one-way, do not enter, and stop signs in the appropriate spots and painted lines on the road to remind motorists of the new direction.

With fire season at hand, many Topanga residents were anxious for the road to reopen. About 50 people turned out for a July 21 meeting about the road, sponsored by county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky.

“Public safety is the issue here,” said Yaroslavsky’s senior field deputy, Susan Nissman, “and we feel this adds another element of safety--especially during the fire season--for those residents up there.”