Laguna Beach braces for traffic congestion with upcoming Caltrans project
Laguna Beach will soon see heavier-than-usual traffic resulting from more than the seasonal rush of visitors as the weather warms up.
Caltrans plans to begin work in April to replace a deteriorated portion of the Laguna Canyon Channel beneath South Coast Highway south of its intersection at Broadway.
The construction project is expected to close two lanes on Coast Highway from Broadway to Ocean Avenue for 24 hours per day. City staff indicated that the time frame for the project could go from the first week of April up to Memorial Day.
While the staff report said that Caltrans has agreed to provide personnel to assist with traffic flow for two Coast Highway intersections during construction, city officials had additional concerns about traffic congestion in the downtown area.
“I’m extremely concerned that just controlling traffic at the two intersections of Coast Highway is not going to be sufficient and that there would be significant traffic congestion in our town,” Laguna Beach City Manager John Pietig said at a meeting of the Laguna Beach City Council on Tuesday night.
The council was asked during the meeting to consider hiring an outside traffic control group to help facilitate traffic flow at five downtown intersections: Glenneyre Street at Park Avenue; Glenneyre Street at Forest Avenue; Forest Avenue at Beach Street; Ocean Avenue at Beach Street and Forest Avenue at 3rd Street.
By unanimous decision, the council authorized the city manager, or his designee, to come to an agreement with Traffic Management Inc., a traffic control services group that has handled the issue for the city on the Fourth of July in the past. The amount is not to exceed $216,400.
There will be $236,400 taken from the completed Laguna Canyon Channel Improvements project account to fund the contract for traffic control services from Traffic Management Inc. from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. It will also help cover the cost of additional hours for police department cadets, who will handle weekend traffic control.
Construction had initially been scheduled to take place last fall, the staff report said. The project was deferred by Caltrans because of permit and material availability delays.
Pietig noted that in order for construction to begin the first week of April, it will still depend on a permit being issued by the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Although he said he understands the necessity to complete the project, local business owner Itsik Bouhbot said he felt the timing of the construction could be better. He said he bought Le Macaron French Pastries in Laguna Beach just two weeks before the coronavirus pandemic hit the region.
Bouhbot said the construction could serve as a deterrent to pedestrian traffic and potential walk-in customers, just as the weather warms up and provides an opportunity for economic recovery.
“It has to happen, and I understand it,” Bouhbot said Wednesday after bringing his concerns before council the night before. “I just think that the timing is wrong because if they don’t get it right, then it’s going to go over Memorial Day weekend, leading into summer.”
“We’ve suffered for a whole year under the pandemic. We were closed for three months,” he said.
Laguna Beach Mayor Bob Whalen said that when the Caltrans project first came up, adjacent property owners were advised to communicate with and seek compensation from Caltrans for any business interruption.
“The city will be spending almost a quarter million dollars of its own money to assist in traffic flow,” Whalen added in a message Wednesday. “Even with that, traffic is going to be heavy with delays. Anyone who can avoid using Coast Highway during this time should do so and look for alternate routes around the city. We ask for everyone’s patience as this essential project is constructed.”
Matt Lawson, chairman of the city’s Emergency and Disaster Preparedness Committee, spoke in support of the project during Tuesday’s meeting.
“It’s going to be Carmageddon, it’s going to be an inconvenience for many of us, but it has to get done, and I don’t think we have a choice,” Lawson said.
“Either we do it when we schedule it, or we do it when the road caves in and we’re going to have a major disaster on our hands, so there is no good solution here. I think we’ve got the best of the bad choices.”
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
