More highway and train line closures are hitting Orange County’s coastal cities as high surf and erosion spurred on by the El Niño season continue to batter OC’s idyllic coast.
Two lanes have been closed on a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway running between Newport Beach and Laguna Beach as crews work to repair a crack running along the bluff which supports the highway.
Now, only one lane will operate each direction – South and North bound – and there is no anticipated reopening date, according to Caltrans.
“Caltrans will close both southbound lanes of PCH between Reef Point Drive and Irvine Cove Drive and shift traffic in both directions to the two northbound lanes, one lane each way,” reads an Instagram post by Laguna Beach.
The closure is part of a phased plan to repair and stabilize a crack that appeared in the cliff on Oct. 13. Phase one was to place a plastic tarp over the split to protect it from rain that was expected last week.
Crews will work to place smaller rocks known as fill buttress to prevent a landslide from occurring and add larger rocks. The work can only be completed at low tide, according to an Instagram post made by Laguna Beach.
More rain is expected this weekend, including on Halloween.
Additionally, a portion of the Pacific Surfliner tracks running between Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo and the Oceanside in San Diego will be closed starting today and running until Friday, due to high surf overtopping the tracks.
This section of the train line is no stranger to closures, with the line suffering damage from strong surf in a round of storms that hit the coast over Memorial Day weekend, leaving the line out of commission for a little over a week.
During that time, buses were provided for riders to make the connection.
But there’s no bus services to close the gap during this week’s closure.
This morning, the OC Transportation Authority board voted to continue an emergency declaration first made in late September, allowing for the agency to work toward getting more sand to bolster the coast.
However, under current projections, the sand likely won’t make it to the beaches until June – after the anticipated end of this year’s historic El Niño season.
The agency also announced Monday that plans of what is known as a shoreline protection structure have been developed. It will use pipes to provide stability for 1,400 feet alongside the Surfliner train tracks, and will replace riprap, or large boulders, used to stabilize the area.
“It’s our worst condition out there, we’re proposing this structure to protect the tracks,” said the OCTA Executive Director of Capital Programs Jim Beil at Monday’s meeting.
The continued work to armor the coast comes as a super El Niño season is barrelling toward OC’s coast, with the National Weather Service predicting a high chance of a historical event occurring sometime between now and the end of the year.
Several cities have already made emergency declarations following tropical storms that brought high tides and surface flooding to several coastal cities.
