Photo by Marisa Padilla
The construction for the sewer system on Pacific Coast Highway that began earlier this year is causing extreme back-ups for traffic in Santa Monica, Malibu and surrounding areas.
The goal of the construction is to fix and replace the sewer system originating in Pacific Palisades to ensure it runs efficiently and quickly to provide faster travel for the city.
Although the construction is causing a lot of issues with traffic and transportation according to the Santa Monica Department of Transportation, the city of Santa Monica, Malibu and surrounding cities are making an effort to be proactive in regards to the traffic situation.
Principal Transportation Engineer for the city of Santa Monica, Sam Morrissey, said he has been working on creating ways to inform commuters on the traffic associated with the PCH construction.
“We’re going to set up a 24-hour traffic management center due to the construction,” Morrissey said. “These sensors will be in the canyon, on PCH and around Malibu to employ real traffic info.”
Morrissey also mentioned that the city of Santa Monica would collaborate with the Waze navigation system in order to provide accurate information to drivers.
“We’re going to partner with Waze for equal and current information for the best places to travel,” Morrissey said. “A lot of people use Waze, so it will be really convenient.”
Although these traffic aids are in place, many commuters, some of whom include Pepperdine students, are getting caught in traffic jams. Junior Christina Lasorda said she has found this traffic adds stress to her generally easy morning commutes.
“I live right next to Pepperdine, and the drive to class should take no time, but the traffic from this construction makes my morning commute really time consuming,” Lasorda said.
Lasorda also mentioned that the time of her commute has doubled or tripled since the construction.
However, students traveling from the opposite direction don’t seem to face the traffic issues as much as those traveling from Santa Monica.
Senior Meredith Weiss doesn’t foresee traffic as an issue on her daily commute.
“It’s my first year commuting, but I think parking will be rougher than the traffic,” Weiss said.
In addition to the sewer renovation on PCH, the cities of Malibu and Santa Monica are in for a traffic nightmare when the construction on the California Incline begins in February 2015. “[The construction] will make PCH work better because it takes the traffic signal away from the California Incline,” Morrissey said.
During these next few years of construction, the traffic signals will be prominent for commuting and predicting the flow of traffic.
Morrissey said that the traffic signals will be the most helpful when trying to commute daily.
“PCH will be smoother, and it will likely be faster to travel on PCH … because of traffic signals,” he said.
__________
Follow the Graphic on Twitter: @PeppGraphic
