Malibu asks state to independently study PCH cliff stability Play

PCH in the Malibu fire zone may be in bigger danger of falling into the ocean than Caltrans thinks.

The city on Monday night approved asking the state of California to independently study the stability of the highway.

A Caltrans engineer has assured the city that the roadway's supports are stable within the Malibu fire zone. That's where 300 houses have been scraped away after the fire, along with the wooden and concrete supports that prevented wave action from eating away at the dirt cliffs. Caltrans says the road is not in danger of falling into the ocean.

But as KBUU has been reporting for 18 months, it sure doesn't look safe.

There are several places, particularly near Big Rock, where waves have washed giant chunks of cliff away. At high tide, churning waves are visible crashing onto dirt and cobble cliffs, leaving 30-foot-high vertical cliffs that in some cases are eating away the cliff directly below pavement right next to traffic lanes.

Four weeks after hearing a Caltrans official promise — a 100 percent guarantee, in his words — that the road is secure, the city council is not buying that. The council on Monday asked Caltrans to double-check its contention that the holes in the pavement in some places on PCH are safe.

Some people who live in the area say the ocean has eaten away the cliff, and at high tide, waves are beating against the dirt cliffs holding up the roadbed.