Caltrans to repair century-old PCH pedestrian tunnels Play

Caltrans is promising to repair two pedestrian tunnels that go under PCH in the confusing web of streets at Chautauqua Boulevard and Entrada Drive.

The tunnels are nearly 100 years old, and they are in bad shape. They allow pedestrians to get under PCH without needing red lights to be installed and activated on the semi-freeway.

The two pedestrian tunnels go under Pacific Coast Highway to the beach right next to the Santa Monica Canyon overcrossing, the flood control channel and maze of traffic lights at Chautauqua Boulevard and Entrada Drive.

The underpasses have serious flooding issues. One tunnel has a failed sump pump. The other has a drain that is backed by sand. One of the tunnels is flooded with dirty bacteria-ridden water that leaks in from the roof of the tunnel.

That's according to The Canyon Alliance, a group of residents in the Santa Monica Canyon area.

The Los Angeles Bureau of Street Services will shoot some hydraulic cement into the tunnel roof. Caltrans has assured The Canyon Alliance that the tunnels had been surveyed and found to be structurally sound.

A neighborhood association at the mouth of the canyon has paid an unhoused individual to clean the tunnels weekly.

This story is based on two reports from citizen journalists at The Canyon Alliance and Circling The News.