Caltrans Installs Channelizers at Zuma Beach Stretch of PCH

• Temporary Measure Is Expected to Inhibit U-Turns Until a Concrete Center Curb Is Built

BY ANNE SOBLE

State Department of Transportation crews worked through the night on Tuesday to install channelization along a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway across from Zuma Beach that has seen three traffic deaths stemming from illegal U-turns in five months.

With one lane of PCH closed and heavy lighting equipment transforming night into day, a row of what are sometimes referred to as candlesticks, or yellow reflector sticks, was put in approximately 16-foot intervals between Morning View Drive and Guernsey Avenue to serve as a temporary barrier until Caltrans can finalize the funding to put in a raised concrete barrier.

The channelizers, the generic term for several types of traffic barriers with varying degrees of flexibility so they can be driven over by emergency vehicles, are viewed as the first step in addressing U-turn concerns for the location, according to Judy Gish, a spokesperson for the Caltrans region that serves Malibu.

Gish did not know why this type of channelizer with this degree of spacing was selected and said that the engineering information on which the decision was based would be made available. Candlesticks cost about one-third less that the more visible paddle posts and closer intervals would also have increased the price tag.SYMBOLISM—Caltrans crews worked late Tuesday night and pre-dawn Wednesday to install candlestick reflectors as a temporary safety measure on a stretch of Pacific Coast Highway across from Zuma beach where illegal U-turn accidents have claimed three lives in recent months. However, as evident above from the reflector spacing when compared to this large SUV, not only are illegal U-turns easily executable but the potential for head-on collisions is not diminished.

BARRIERS—Caltrans has used other types of channelizers, sturdier and more closely spaced, on nearby stretches of PCH. MSN Photos/George Hauptman