Crews Wrap Hillside to Curb Pacific Coast Highway Slides

Using helicopters and rock climbers, Caltrans placed a cable mesh net over a Malibu hillside Thursday in hopes of preventing landslides along Pacific Coast Highway.

The net covers a 750,000-square-foot area north of Big Rock Drive, said Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli.

“Should there be any rocks that slide in the future, the net will capture them and escort them down the hill instead of letting them rumble down to the roadway,” she said.

Because of the steepness of the slope, helicopters delivered the net in 30 25-foot by 100-foot sections to the top of the slope as cranes secured it at the bottom. Rock climbers wove the sections together.

One northbound lane of the highway was closed to accommodate the crane from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

In June, a 400-foot long steel beam was erected along the same hillside to break the fall of rocks and earth tumbling to the ground.

The netting and beam projects, which together cost $1 million, constitute a permanent solution to controlling rockslides along the slope, Tiritilli said.

Up the road a few miles, crews have hauled away 140,000 cubic yards of dirt from the Las Flores Canyon Road landslide--half the amount that tumbled down in the June 15 slide, she said.

Crews have been working seven days a week, 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., to clean up the massive dirt pile, which closed two lanes of the highway between Big Rock Drive and Las Flores Canyon Road.

That larger, $20-million project is expected to be completed later this year. Updates on the road condition can be obtained through Malibu’s city hotline at (310) 456-9982.