Malibu presses Caltrans to shore up PCH before winter Play

Malibu is publicly asking Caltrans to do better — to take immediate steps to protect Pacific Coast Highway from falling into the ocean near Big Rock this winter.

City Manager Joe Irwin says the state may be underestimating the immediate threat to the roadway.

300 houses in the eastern part of Malibu burned down in the Palisades Fire, and with them, hundreds of wooden and concrete piers, walls and bulkheads were destroyed.

At numerous spots, particularly near Big Rock, strong waves and currents have eaten away at the dirt and rocks that support the highway — and its critical water pipe.

Yesterday, the city put out another public statement, saying Caltrans needs to do more.

Joe Irwin, the city manager, this morning:

"I would say that we appreciate Caltrans coming to give a presentation, but it was also brought up to us at that meeting that it's prudent for us to evaluate on our own and that's what we did. And we've been monitoring this area since the Palisades fire, but with recent high tides and continued exposed earth, and the erosion that is happening it's reached this point where we had to identify, in partnership with Caltrans and others, what are the top priority sites that need interim work."

Asked whether the fixes would be interim or permanent, Irwin said: "Ultimately permanent, but right now we're working with — I see the city's role as serving as the convener. We've done our field operations, gathered information with our engineers, the coastal engineers, and pulled all the utility providers together, as well as Caltrans and said this is our assessment and this is what we've seen. And it appears on all accounts that they've concurred and they're starting to tackle that this week."

Asked about Caltrans' practical avenues and emergency money, Irwin said: "You know their budget is massive so I imagine they have line items for general maintenance, etc., right? From my view they are starting to move to deploy resources and show up where slope instability is happening along the coast, right now. They have resources and they are using them."

Asked how the loss of homes and their seawalls figures into the crisis, Irwin said: "Well, a lot of those homes had seawalls that were in between the edge of the Caltrans right of way, and the seawall was out in the ocean. A lot of those seawalls have started to break away and allow wave activity up where historically there were homes and waves were not happening. That is adding a complexity. The coastline is always changing and without those seawalls in place, the natural occurrence of coastal erosion is happening."

So says city manager Joe Irwin.

Two months ago, the Caltrans engineer in charge of Malibu stood in front of the city council. He said there is no immediate threat to the highway inside Malibu city limits.

The engineer did say there is a worrisome danger just east of Malibu, near the Getty Villa Museum. The waves have eaten up to the sand that PCH was built atop 100 years ago.

Malibu's only major water supply is under the highway there. And it's the only four-lane connection from Malibu to the outside world.

But inside city limits, the state engineer says the road is OK.

The city of Malibu politely disagrees.

Caltrans did not immediately respond to yesterday's new message from the city.