County scrambles to stabilize washed-out Westward Beach road Play

County officials are trying to come up with a plan to stabilize the beachfront road between Westward Beach and Point Dume.

Last week's hurricane waves washed out the beach, forcing closure of the road last Friday. This was no surprise.

The beach just past the entrance station is gone. Part of that area washed out last year and was covered with rocks a year ago in an effort to protect the road, the lifeguard station and three bathrooms.

The new section of washed-out beach is to the west of the new rocks, where sand dunes used to sit. The washed-away sand exposed the water line running down to the restrooms. Also exposed: drainage pipes that were placed to carry rainwater across the road and through what used to be sand.

Some internet experts have blamed the drainage pipes for washing out the sand. Physically impossible. It's been dry, and there is no way those pipes could have been responsible for the massive amount of sand washed out by the high waves from last week.

L.A. County has been looking for sources for sand to replenish the eroded beach at the eastern end of the arc that includes Point Dume Beach, Westward Beach, Zuma Beach, Trancas Beach and Broad Beach.

That two-mile crescent of sand is the most popular recreational beach in Malibu, serving more than 15 million beach visitors per year.

All of these beaches have suffered significant sand loss, although the ever-changing currents have actually made the beach wider at a few locations.

Last year, the county awarded $3 million in parks bond money for planning and design of "living shoreline" projects just upcoast from the washout site, at Zuma Creek. But some of the area that washed out last week was part of a similar sand dune restoration project.

On a bigger scale, the county is looking at trucking in sand from catch basins in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena. That project would cost hundreds of millions and is still in the "talking about" stage.