State Agency Says It Needs More Time to Address the Illegal U-Turn Issue at Zuma Beach

• Stretch of PCH at Beach Was Scene of Two Recent Fatals

BY HANS LAETZ

A spokesperson for the California Department of Transportation says it may be several weeks or months before any decision is made about installing a concrete median, plastic paddles or other devices to prevent illegal U-turns along state Highway 1 at Zuma Beach, the scene of two fatal U-turn crashes in six months.

That informal timetable would push any installation back to after this year’s busy summer tourist season, and Malibu’s mayor said he would ask the city to push for quicker action.

Malibu Mayor Jeff Jennings said last week the city would push for installation of some sort of visual barrier on the three-quarter-mile long section of highway between Guernsey Avenue and Morning View Drive. “It could be candlesticks, or some other device,” Jennings said. “There are several alternatives available.”

Several Malibu residents have urged Caltrans to extend a median down the highway where it parallels Zuma Beach. Thousands of cars are parallel-parked on the shoulder every week, and many residents have recounted experience of accidents or close calls caused by drivers making fast U-turns to grab a parking space, or take advantage of what they erroneously think is a gap in traffic.

Plastic poles called candlesticks are used by the city on Webb Way to prevent illegal turns. A larger alternative, called channelizers, uses large yellow paddles. Caltrans has installed them at several PCH locations where illegal turns have been a problem.

Caltrans spokesperson Judy Gish said the agency “certainly is aware of the issue” after several newspaper articles quoted Malibu drivers who have lost cars to traffic collisions caused by illegal turns on PCH at Zuma.

“This is something we will be moving on, with all this public support, because that (public call) is not something we have seen in the past.”

But Gish said the state transportation budget is allocated to nearly every penny, and “Caltrans doesn’t have an account of unallocated funds” sitting around.

On PCH this week, a single white flip-flop sandal remains between the twin double lines, marking the spot where some four weeks ago a 78-year-old woman was killed when her husband executed an illegal U-turn and their car was hit by another. That wreck happened at the exact same spot where a December illegal U-turn resulted in the death of two motorists.

Sheriff’s deputies said forcing U-turns to be made from turn lanes adds to motorist safety, as all four lanes of traffic do not have to be crossed at once.