Illegal Zuma U-Turns Continue Despite Candlestick Barrier

• Temporary Measure Leaves Motorists Puzzled as Hazards Appear Unchecked

BY HANS LAETZ

A mile-long row of candlestick-style markers has been installed along Pacific Coast Highway at Zuma Beach, and an unscientific survey of beach-going motorists has elicited an average assessment best summed up as “huh?”

The 30-inch-tall yellow-tipped reflector wands have been glued along a stretch of pavement that—although striped with four solid yellow lines—is the frequent scene of collisions and near-crashes caused by persons making illegal U-turns. Three people were killed in U-turn crashes there in December and May.

“We didn’t know what [the markers] were for, we thought they were just to mark the lanes and we made a U-turn anyway,” said Paul Rheinfelder, a Phoenix resident, as his children clambered out of the minivan Tuesday. “We can’t get a ticket for that, can we?”

Last week, a spokesperson for the California Department of Transportation said continuous paddle-style channelizers—with bright orange panels and a steel curb—would be bolted to PCH between Morning View Drive and Trancas Creek.

Instead, Caltrans engineers decided to install the slender plastic wands, spaced every 10-12 feet, as a temporary visual aid until a $200,000 cement median curb can be funded and installed.

“The yellow panels are a permanent solution, so they will not be installed there,” said Caltrans spokesperson Jeanne Bonfilio. “The white markers will serve as a temporary visual impediment to U-turns until the curbs are installed.”

But the white markers are more than far-enough apart to turn between, as noted by all of the half dozen motorists parking their cars when approached by a reporter this week.

“I think it’s misleading, those little flags should be more prominent and higher, and closer together,” said beachgoer Tom Wright of Westlake Village. “People can think they can make a turn right through there.”

Point Dume resident Jeff Eisen, unloading his surfboard, assessed the new poles as failing to communicate that no U-turns are allowed. “The big gaps say it’s wide open, it’s not a physical obstacle like a concrete median.

“To anyone who is going to cross a double-yellow line, these are no barrier at all.”

Not every motorist missed the point of the new sticks. “I would say those [markers] say you’re not supposed to make a U-turn there,” said West Hills surfer Alex Price.

But Pennsylvania tourist David Nash said the new markers left him confused about where he could make a U-turn through 50-mph traffic to park at the beach. “Should I cut between those things, or go to the turn area, where it doesn’t say you can U-turn? It’s not intuitive at all.”

One motorist who didn’t wish to be identified said he thought the row of wands down the highway was “a tribute to a Harry Potter summer.”