Council to vote tonight on PCH traffic circles west of Broad Beach

The convoluted traffic safety issue for Pacific Coast Highway may take another turn tonight at the city council meeting.

Malibu's city council will supposedly decide tonight on whether to install two traffic circles and a half mile of narrow roadway, replacing a 55 mile an hour straightaway west of Broad Beach.

It's just the latest chapter of a complicated and confusing decision-making process on what to do to make PCH safer.

To review: Caltrans is supposedly about to release a master plan to redesign the entire 22 miles of Pacific Coast Highway in the city. This was rushed through the state agency after four women were killed on the side of PCH 2 1/2 years ago.

Then the fire happened. The master plan got delayed.

The public pressure continued, and county supervisor Lindsey Horvath jumpstarted the safety effort by designating $1 million in county money to build two traffic circles and narrow PCH between Encino Canyon Road and the Western Broad Beach Road intersection.

In effect, put a gigantic traffic cork of one lane and 35 mph in each direction for a half mile of the highway at the city's western end.

Caltrans quickly endorsed that, pointing out that speed reduction was the number one request from Malibu residents. City engineers began designing and laying out the project.

But the city council has never decided whether that was a good idea. Are those traffic circles at the right location in Malibu? How come traffic circles like that were never discussed in the lengthy public meetings that Caltrans held when they were drawing up the master plan? Will those circles delay emergency evacuation during fires? None of those questions have been answered.

The city council two weeks ago approved permits for the traffic circles and lane narrowing, but made it very clear that that was merely a legal formality, and it had yet to decide if the traffic circles were a good idea at that location.

The meeting is tonight at the city council chambers, and it is scheduled to be streamed.