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Crews are scrambling to keep California’s iconic Pacific Coast Highway from crumbling into the ocean as relentless surf, swollen tides and an ominous El Niño winter batter the state’s coastline.
Caltrans announced Friday that workers are building a protective rock wall along Highway 1 at Thornhill Broome Beach in Malibu after recent storms washed out a section of the roadway.
“In advance of an El Nino winter, crews are constructing Rock Slope Protection (RSP) on this shoreline along State Route 1 north of Sycamore Canyon Road, where a section of highway washed out in SoCal’s most recent storm,” the post on social media read.
The work involves piling massive rocks along the vulnerable shoreline to shield the highway from further erosion. Excavators and bulldozers were seen moving earth and boulders in footage shared by Caltrans.
The agency describes rock slope protection as a common erosion-control method for “providing long-term protection for transportation facilities, and most importantly, the traveling public.”
But the pounding surf is already creating headaches for drivers.
The California Highway Patrol warned that high tides are disrupting travel along the same stretch of Highway 1, where crews are working along the shoulder and traffic patterns have been adjusted.
“High tides along the coast are impacting travel along SR-1 in the area of Thornhill Broome Beach. Shoulder work is underway, and traffic patterns have been adjusted to accommodate the changing conditions,” a post on social media read.
“Remember, highway workers are working along the shoulders to address these conditions. Slow down, move over when safe. Your actions behind the wheel can help protect the people working to keep our roadways safe.”
The Malibu repairs are part of a broader scramble to protect Southern California’s vulnerable coastline, with another stretch of PCH facing trouble farther south in Orange County.
A massive crack recently opened in the bluff beneath the highway near El Morro, just north of Laguna Beach, raising fears that continued erosion could threaten the road itself.
Caltrans has closed one southbound lane of PCH between Irvine Cove and Reef Point Drive for emergency work near Crystal Cove State Park.
“For the safety of the traveling public and the workers on the roadway, we ask that the public follow all detour and speed limit signs in the area,” Caltrans spokesperson Christianne Smith told the LA Times.
Laguna Beach local Blair Conklin captured the growing damage in a YouTube video showing a deep fracture cutting through the cliffside beneath the highway, with muddy brown water churning below.
“This problem seems to be escalating quicker than people thought,” Conklin wrote in the video’s description.
“The cliffside right here this close to PCH is falling … that’s why all this water is so brown,” Conklin told Surfer. “They just closed part of one lane on PCH, and my guess is because the cliff is eroding so bad … it might be at risk of having part of PCH crumble into the ocean.”
Officials have yet to announce when the damaged section of PCH in Malibu will be fully repaired.
The coastal damage comes as California braces for a potentially powerful El Niño winter, with unusually warm Pacific waters, elevated sea levels, high tides and hurricane-driven swells threatening to compound erosion and flooding.
California has already declared a state of emergency ahead of the potentially historic winter storm season — and the race is on to shore up vulnerable roads before the next round of punishing weather hits.