Caltrans Nears Completion of PCH Reinforcing Wall

Crews will finish work on a buttress and drainage system on the eastern half of a slide area on Pacific Coast Highway just south of Las Flores Canyon within a week, state transportation officials said.

The 55-foot-high, 200-foot-long dirt-and-asphalt buttress is designed to prevent failure of the hillside there, and is part of the work necessary to get the northbound highway reopened by Nov. 12, said Caltrans spokeswoman Margie Tiritilli.

Crews will continue working 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily to construct a 250-foot-long retaining wall at the top of the cliff and excavate material from the area. About 218,000 cubic yards have been removed so far, Tiritilli said, with 110,000 more to go before the project is completed.

Later, the top of the cul-de-sac will be replanted, and erosion control devices and fencing will be put in, she said. That work should not affect the planned reopening date.

The $20-million project has kept traffic to a single lane in each direction between Big Rock Drive and Las Flores Canyon Road since June 19, when a landslide closed PCH, she said.

Work started almost immediately thereafter and was only interrupted briefly three days later by a second landslide.

For further information on road work, call the city of Malibu’s hotline at (310) 456-9982.