Drivers love it for their sturdy cliffs and stunning coastal views, but this Southern California highway is also an important evacuation route for thousands of Palos Verdes Peninsula residents. This goes without saying that the important arteries of commuters and emergency vehicles.
However, maintaining the scenic Palos Verdes Drive has become an increasingly expensive and practically constant effort as it continues to break, shift and distort two lane roads.
Currently, officials at Rancho Palos Verdes are thinking of a highly controversial move to help offset the maintenance of the tortured boulevard.
An estimated 15,000 vehicles travel on the road every day, with many drivers going to work, school, and homes and accessing the home, according to the city. The roads span almost all of the city’s coveted coastline, offering only access to Trump National Golf Club and Terranea Resort.
“You need to think about the impact it will have on those who have to go that way,” Councillor Barbara Ferraro said at a council meeting in February.
Manager Jason Torres, just north of Palos Verdes Drive, is worried that not only complicating his daily commute, but also negatively affects his business in a family-run store.
Last fall, repair work along the road caused several stops and slowing down, causing bites from customers’ traffic, Torres said.
“We were hit because people didn’t want to drive it,” he said. “I couldn’t imagine whether it would turn into a toll road.”
Normally Torres takes 15 minutes to drive to work along Palos Vedes Drive, but he said he would consider using a longer route on Hawthorne Drive, which takes around 35 minutes.
“I’m probably going to turn,” said Torres, who lives about nine miles in San Pedro. He understands why the city wants victims, but he said that his clients, many from San Pedro, would not experience any hassle.
“We want to think it’s really great, but it’s a long drive,” he said.
Last year, the city spent repairing and maintaining a mile stretch of the road, where land movements are relentless. This section was last summer due to safety concerns. This is a decision that was extended until at least May.
As geologists have, if land continues to slow down, officials can mitigate hopeful damages, but road repairs are just one of the long list of budget concerns for small cities fighting one of the country’s most active landslides.
To increase costs and invisible, the city decided to study the possibility of creating toll roads.
“There was plenty of conversation (about the victims). …We need to flesh out what the pros and cons will be,” Mayor David Bradley said at a city council meeting last month. “Is it economically viable, or is it just making vendors rich without really helping the city?”
City manager Ala Miranian said city staff hire consultants to assess potential costs, revenue and legal issues. He anticipates a final report that is ready for public and city council reviews this summer.
But for now, the idea is still in “very early stages,” said Miranian. It has not been officially voted.
The slow-moving Bend landslide in Portugal has impacted Palos Verdes Drive south for decades. Therefore, the roads are characterized by signs that warn drivers “extreme caution, to use 0.8 miles of constant land movement.” However, last year the damage has become much more dramatic.
In early 2024, after two years of wet winter, the land movement began to become an area where it had not seen its previous movement. The land shifted up to 12 inches a week in several locations. Cause: Damage dozens of homes, roads and infrastructure. and .
In October, federal authorities announced plans to be hit hardest by landslides. This is an ongoing process.
However, city officials have reported across the landslide complex since late autumn, which is attributed to mitigation and winterization projects. These measures include the installation of several deep dewatering wells, which continue to pump more than 540 gallons of groundwater per minute, according to the city’s. Land slides are linked to increased groundwater.
Given the ongoing issues, Eva Albaja, a lifelong Rancho Palos Verdes resident who lives in a landslide zone, said adding tolls to the roads is easy. She hopes that officials have considered it before.
“We need to be more proactive in our revenue streams. We really need them,” Albaja said. “The overall goal is to make that road run effectively and safely.”
She is worried that the roads are not safe and points to a large uplift known by locals as a scary “ski jump.” She is worried about what will happen if an emergency evacuation is ordered. Many residents in the area either have horses or are elderly, she said.
“There are a lot of safety issues that have not been addressed. …Everyone enjoys the path, and everyone enjoys the trail.
She knows that the victim doesn’t do everything perfectly, but she thinks it helps. This fiscal year has already allocated $35 million to landslide mitigation. This is roughly the same as the annual General Fund budget. LA County has only come from the flood control district to prepare for the rainy season, but the city is struggling to secure external support due to the ongoing emergency.
But the idea of tolls seems less popular among people who live beyond the landslide zone but rely on the road to drop off their kids at school, go to work, or arrive at grocery stores. Crossing social media over the past few weeks, residents lament the way tolls can increase traffic elsewhere on the peninsula, exacerbating the already slow drive and adding to their costs.
When it comes to the pass, Palos Verdes Drive is quite unique in California as an Oceanside Drive that requires payment for access. Toll roads have expanded dramatically across the state in recent years, but are located on busy and interstate highways, according to the Transport Corridor Agency, which operates Orange County toll roads.
Despite improvements to the Portuguese bend area, the affected Palos Verdes Drive stretch remains a major point in the land movement, shifting up to four inches a week in certain areas in the city.
“Recent road experiences show that the road floors at (Paros Vedes Drive South) show evidence of emergent cracks, bumps, tears and holes,” the report states.
Still, the Miranian said the pace of repairs required has been slightly reduced, and now it has declined multiple times every four to six weeks in the month of last year. He said road repairs were being made about every four months prior to the major acceleration in 2024.
The landslide area known as the Bendline Slide Complex or the Ancient Altamira Landslide Complex in Greater Portugal will remain in a local emergency from October 2023. Even at the pinnacle of the movement, city officials vowed to do everything they could to ensure Palos Verdes was open to the south.
In the meantime, the words have spread rapidly about proposals. At a council meeting Tuesday, Bradley said several residents have already written that he is concerned that the change has already been approved.
“What we’re doing is trying to study potential revenue stream options. We’ve come a long way from implementing toll roads,” the mayor said.
