‘Caltrans Safety Tour’ Yields No New Changes, State Says It Will Not Cut Speed Limit Or Make Immediate Design Changes

Caltrans and the state of California held a major media event on Malibu Monday, but a city clamoring for changes to Pacific Coast Highway was left empty handed.

The state Transportation Secretary travelled from Sacramento, but did not have any new traffic calming plans to disclose. 

Toks Omishakin repeated the list of quick fixes already disclosed by Caltrans: a $4.2 million set of new lane striping, speed limit signage, and other small safety projects.  

The news conference produced the news that the state will not be able to immediately lower the speed limit on any stretch of PCH.

No new speed study has been conducted, or will be conducted soon. 

No change in the speed limit.

No changes in design.

Caltrans safety manager Lee Haber said right now, that the state cannot lower the speed limits on PCH. 

NEWSCART A70005 HABER SPEEDRADAR

“Our team did initial data collection for some data points to see where the speeds were and about redoing the speed study. 

“At this point we are going to leave the speed study where it is. 

“We are continuing to evaluate, but one of our biggest problems is that peoples’ speeds are too high, the 85th percentile was too high. 

“It would not lead to a reduction at this point in time. So really our biggest message is we need everybody to slow down.”

But that will be voluntary.

For now … the state is not willing to declare PCH to be a special speed corridor.  Caltrans could take advantage of a change in state law that allows speed limits to be reduced in areas …. where an engineering study finds speed limits are more than is reasonable or safe.

But the state needs an engineering study to do that … and that engineering study is still underway.  

Also still underway .. the comprehensive safety audits that were promised by the state last month in the first meeting of the PCH Safety Task Force after four Pepperdine students were killed on the side of the highway.

At that meeting, Haber said the entire stretch of PCH was to get a comprehensive safety audio immediately.  But last week, Haber said only 2.5 miles of PCH have been audited so far, out of 33 miles of PCH between Neptune’s Net and the Santa Monica Freeway.

PCH from the pier to Santa Monica is to get the comprehensive safety audit in 2024, and PCH from the pier into Ventura County would get the audits in 2025.  Work to improve the road would come after the audits.

KBUU News asked the Secretary of Transportation … Toks Omishakin … if that rate was acceptable to him:

NEWSCART A70003 TOKS ONE 

“Look, there is a process that we have to follow when we do a safety audit. But what I’ve asked from our team is not a business as usual approach on this quarter. 

“So, if there’s any way we can lean into our policies and lean into whatever regulations that may prohibit us from doing it, we need to do it. 

“Not a business as usual approach. All the items that we need to do, we need to do them as quickly as we can. 

“I don’t know all the details as to (why you got) the one or two year estimate. But not a business as usual approach.”

Omishakin Monday said the entire team at Caltrans is not budging from its opinion that the 45 mile an hour speed limit in eastern Malibu is all that the law allows.  That lead a reporter to ask him, what he thinks the speed limit should be.

NEWSCART 70004 TOKS TWO 222 

“Look, that’s hard for me to give you a specific number. But most of the corridor is signed at 45 miles an hour. There are some segments that go up as high as 50 miles an hour so anything within that range.

“But I can’t give you a specific number, but I can tell you, and we know this clearly with data: the faster people go – whether you are a driver, or a pedestrian a cyclist or whatever – when a crash happens,

“The faster you go the least likely you are to survive the crash. So you have to reduce the speeds ultimately, if you’re going to save lives and reduce crashes in the corridor.” 

That may rankle some Malibu city council members, who have said the city should act unilaterally and place barricades or narrow lanes on PCH means to slow the average car … not just speeders.

Last week, Mayor Steve Uhring and councilmember Bruce Silverstein urged the city two take safety measures into its own hands, and maybe narrow lanes with barricades or plastic strips. 

Here’s Silverstein, on Monday last week:

NEWSCART A00384 BARRICADES BS

“Giving people the appearance of less space will cause them to slow down their speed. We could use K rails. We could close lanes from time to time, and from place to place. 

“Again, these are all things we could do unilaterally. I know that Caltrans will say we don’t have the authority to do them, but I say under our emergency ordinance. we do.

“Let the Los Angeles Times have to come out here and cover the fact that Caltrans is going to sue us for trying to save lives.”

On Monday … Malibu mayor Steve Uhring stood among the Caltrans officials promising no major changes, and sang a different tune.

NEWSCART A70006 UHRING CONFIDANT

“This is the first time in 30 years that I feel confident that we are going to get something done. 

“We have all these people here and if we can work together as a team.

“Everybody here … these are the people we need to get it fixed and they took the time out to see what was going on. 

“They took the time to talk to us. They took the time to listen to us,

“I feel very confident we made some big strides today.”

If those strides resulted in any permanent or temporary changes, none were announced Monday.

Instead, officials stuck to the existing design and operation of the highway.

State law requires that the speed limit be computed based on the 85th percentile speed … the speed travelled by 85 percent of the cars.

PCH was designed 70 years ago with lane widths and curves to accommodate 55 mile per hour traffic … and study after study proves traffic moves at a design speed … not a speed limit. 

But reducing the speed limit may not be the overall goal here.

State Assembly Member Jacqui Irwin more law enforcement on the road is more important.… 

NEWSCART A70007 ASSMBR IRWIN ONE:

“You know, we had a little talk about changing the speed limits. 

“Let’s be absolutely clear: this is not about people going the speed limit or 5 miles over it. This is excessive speed, these are sp[eeds of 100-105 mph. We can just talk to the sheriffs department and look at what type of speeds, even after the accident, that they have caught the drivers going at.”

The assemblywoman told KBUU News that … as far as she knows … regular commuters on PCH are not speeding. 

NEWSCART A70008 ASSMBR JACQUI IRWIN TWO:

“I think that when we are talking about these speed constricting efforts, I don’t think we’re necessarily talking about commuters. 

“If you look at, during commuting times, I’d like to see this statistics, but if you look at during commuting times, I think most folks are going within the speed limit.”

With commuters regularly seen speeding above 60 on PCH every morning … a Malibu motorist going 45 may hold that to be a false impression. 

Irwin’s assembly district includes Malibu … but is primarily made up of voters over the hill in the cities along the 101 Freeway … 

Many of whom use PCH as a daily shortcut to the Westside … it is .. after all … a state highway. 

One that is not going to see any major changes … anytime soon … other than 4 point 2 million dollars worth of paint and new signs.