PCH Safety And Repaving Project Approved On 3-1 Vote, With Conrad Forced Aside and Uhring Opposed – Silverstein Supports One Lane Only Each Way To Make Way For Protected Bike Lanes in Eastern Malibu

Caltrans won a city building permit for its western Malibu paving and safety project … from the Malibu City Council … last night.

It means that the 55 million dollar repaving project for PCH … from Malibu Creek west the county line … can begin this winter.  Unless the Malibu Township Council appeals it to the state Coastal Commission … a possible;e project that could delay but could not possibly kill the project.

It wil include painted bike lanes on much of the highway.  But that was not what the battle was over. In the end .. the entire battle was over a Caltrans proposal to put in a sidewalk in front of Pepperdine University’s great lawn.

The school bitterly opposed it … they said it would be an unsafe attractive nuisance … and draw unwanted pedestrians to a sidewalk that does not go anywhere. 

Caltrans said that is just plain wrong … it will link two sidewalks at either end of the lawn

Last night … the Caltrans design engineer said the bike lane … repaving … and other changes are just a temporary .. interim fix.

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“We did the best we can to implement as many and as much safety enhancement that we could fit onto this timeline for this project … and this is what we proposed for the project. 

“We understand there are many more things that we could have added if we had the time and the money, but we don’t.”

City council member Steve Uhring campaigned to install the sidewalk on the other side of the highway … 

But that would have required extensive earthmoving .. retaining walls … on land not owned by Caltrans. 

Again last night .. Caltrans officials repeated that the sidewalk at the lawn would be built entirely on state property …

Last night … Steve Uhring tussled with He fought with Caltrans engineer Lee Haber 

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UHRING: “OK, so I mean, that is a long answer to the question. Is it safer on the other side.

HABER: “Yeah, it is.

“It is safer to have a sidewalk than to have no sidewalk.

UHRING: “Is it safer on the other side?

HABER: “The most simple and feasible and easily recommended place is to have it place it is on the inland side.”

UHRING:  “Simple answer.”

HABER: “I am addressing your question. “

UHRING: “I mean.”

HABER: “I am looking at visibility and opportunity to get it in place. If we delay, people say ‘well postpone to whenever.’ I don’t know whenever is going to happen.”

Pepperdine still argues that putting in a sidewalk in front of its lawn would result in a dangerous discontinuous walkway … because there are no sidewalks up or down the highway.

But Caltrans points out that their sidewalk would actually connect two segments of sidewalk … on John Tyler and Malibu Canyon …

Those sidewalks were built by Pepperdine when they constructed their campus 50 years ago.

The Caltrans chief safety officer … Lee Haber … rejected any talk of cutting the sidewalk out of the project … or putting it off for several years. 

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“We would be better off having a sidewalk along Pacific Coast Highway.

“The counter measure that from the Federal Highway Administration states sidewalks have a 65 to 89% reduction in crashes involving pedestrians walking along roadways.”

The vote …  the city council members who said putting the sidewalk in … in front of Pepperdine’s lawn … was 3 to 1 … all but Steve Uhring.

Doug Stewart: 

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“Pepperdine should not have the ability to veto the sidewalk. 

“It’s got to be something that has to be worked out amongst all the parties. 

“I think Pepperdine has got an open mind about this.

“But at the same time … we probably needthose sidewalks in .… 

“It’s not just about the speed on PCH… 

“We have pedestrians that are in harm’s way … “

City council member Haylynn Conrad was forced to leave the city council chambers … before the discussion even had begun

Conrad had painted herself into a corner … and could not vote last night.

The novice council member had written and spoken forcefully in favor of the safety plan … before the meeting. 

But those public statements meant she could not sit as an impartial judge on it … according to legal advice she got.

She told KBUU News it “a bummer.”  …  “a super rookie move.”

Steve Uhrong was the only vote agaist the project.

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“I knew about the four girls from Pepperdine.  Let me tell you.

“They were standing on the sidewalk … under a streetlight

“And there is nothing in this proposal that would’ve done anything to make their death less of a fact.

“That to me is wrong.

“We are going to spend $55 million on a project then I would like to see something on happen on PCH that it would at least start to slow down the traffic. 

“Because that’s what’s killing people.”

In point of fact … there is no sidewalk where the four students were killed.

There have … in fact … been several fatal PCH crashes involving cars … traveling at the speed limit … hitting pedestrians walking in the travel lanes where there is no sidewalk.

The 55 million dollars is mostly going to repave the highway … not towards any safety elements. 

And the narrow lanes that will result from the project will … Caltrans officials are sure of it … they will slow down traffic. 

Uhring has been repeatedly told that the project last night was the first of two …covering the half of PCH west of Malibu Creek.

PCH east of Malibu Creek will get its turn in the spotlight in a few weeks. … in the next phase.

And council member Bruce Silverstein said last night .. the state should radically downsize the highway in the eastern part of the city.

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“A lot of residents are not going to like what I am going to say.

“The real change is making it one lane in each direction and having real bike lanes … that are separated from the highway … the roadway.

“Until those things occur … this is going to be a dangerous highway … a dangerous road… running through the middle of our town.”

And as for Pepperdine’s opposition to the sidewalk at its great lawn.

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“They have a beautiful front green lawn and they don’t want it to become more suburban than it is … and I could I can appreciate that.”

The project that was approved by the city council last night could be appealed by the Malibu Township Council to the state Coastal Commission.

Last night Bruce Silverstein beseeched them … not to do that … not to stand in the way by delaying the 55 million dollar repaving and safety changes. 

But the Malibu Township Council might yet be able to torpedo the project … which is on a tight budget deadline… by sending it to a lengthy appeals process at coastal … where the staff has already endorsed it.