Tell Caltrans to Slow Down the PCH in Malibu

Want a say in the future of the PCH in Malibu? Register here to join the Caltrans virtual public workshop on July 25 from 6 to 8 p.m.

Malibu has long been one of the most dangerous driving cities in the United States. Since 2010, 61 people have been killed by traffic violence along Malibu's Pacific Coast Highway — year after year, it seems another ghost tire is added to a memorial that already honors too many. 

Concerned Malibu citizens and organizations like Streets Are For Everyone have been begging Caltrans, who operates the Pacific Coast Highway, to help slow down the vehicles that are killing people on the PCH every year.

To that end, Caltrans District 7 earlier this year announced its Pacific Coast Highway Master Plan Feasibility Study, which aims “to identify transportation improvements that will address safety for all users with an emphasis on supporting multimodal travel options for pedestrians and bicyclists, as well as enhancing transit opportunities, for the portion of PCH in Malibu.”

As part of the Feasibility Study, Caltrans has asked for the public’s input. On July 11, Caltrans hosted the PCH project’s first public workshop, and last week, concerned residents were invited to participate in the Round One Public Engagement Workshop.

Roughly 40 people tuned in to the virtual Public Engagement Workshop, which asked attendees to consider the 22-mile stretch of the PCH located within the city limits of Malibu (from approximately 1700 feet north of the State Route 27/PCH intersection to approximately 1 mile south of the Los Angeles/Ventura County line).

Caltrans representatives asked attendees to consider five different “typologies” of road usage in Malibu — one featured housing on both sides of the street, another a mixture of commercial and residential — and rank how they’d like to see Caltrans improve the transportation options for each. Options included adding bike lanes, sidewalks, gateways, medians, center turn lanes, parking on either side or no change.

We were also asked whether we would prefer that, as the PCH passes through downtown Malibu, Caltrans prioritize moving cars quickly through town or to “create more of a boulevard character with features such as a gateway, median, landscape, wider sidewalks and bikes lanes to slow traffic.”

Though it was a preliminary public hearing, it was heartening to see such a strong turnout from advocates who wanted to see safer, slower, and healthier options for Malibu and the PCH — nearly every respondent wanted a boulevard with slow traffic and bike and pedestrian options.  

Caltrans has added another virtual Round One Public Engagement Workshop for Thursday, July 25, from 6 to 8 pm. Please register for the event to:
tell Caltrans that we want Malibu to be a safe place to walk, run, bike or drive for everyone!