County to begin clearing Zuma Creek underpass this week
L.A. County crews will start moving gravel off the flooded roadway tomorrow, with reopening tentatively planned for next week.
Light rain fell over Malibu Sunday morning, but it was gone by sunrise. Rainfall amounts varied from 0.15 inches at Malibu Surfrider Beach to 0.4 inches of rain here at Trancas. Almost a half inch of rain was measured up at the top of the mountains.
Clearly, not enough to start any water flow into the canyons. Which brings us to Zuma Creek.
L.A. County plans to start bringing in heavy machinery to clear the Zuma Creek underpass today. The county plans to start actually moving gravel and rocks off the concrete roadway tomorrow, and they tentatively plan to reopen the road next week.
It's not clear why the seemingly simple work will take five working days to accomplish. But there will be a biology team there to make sure the adjacent Zuma Creek bed is not damaged.
Malibu activists were left shaking their heads in disbelief two weeks ago when Caltrans officials said there was no way that the road would be reopened. Pressure on L.A. County from Malibu activists Merril May and council member Haylynn Conrad prompted county supervisor Lindsey Horvath's office to intercede.
The county Department of Beaches & Harbors says it will continue to monitor the underpass closely and measure water levels in the low point of the roadway each Monday and Thursday. The county says they need to make sure that the underpass roadway stays safe to drive through.
The underpass is a vital link for people accessing Zuma Beach, or people trying to exit Westward Beach Road onto PCH. When it floods, drivers are forced out at the dangerous intersection up above the creek.
A permanent solution was proposed by the city and Caltrans in 2015: a short access road connecting Westward Beach to the Busch Drive signal. But there has been no progress on that.