3.6-mile stretch of SR-27 now open 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily, months earlier than expected.
Caltrans has restored full daytime traffic on a 3.6-mile section of Topanga Canyon Boulevard/State Route 27 between Pacific Coast Highway and Grand View Drive, months ahead of the original summer target, the agency announced.
The highway, heavily damaged by the Palisades Fire and subsequent winter storms, now allows unrestricted travel from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m. daily. Nighttime restrictions remain in place from midnight to 5 a.m. for pipe installation, and one-lane traffic control with a pilot car operates from 8 p.m. to midnight in the work zone at postmiles 2.5 to 2.8.
Officials credited accelerated work, including an alternative design for a retaining wall after harder-than-expected bedrock was encountered, for the early reopening. The $38.5 million emergency repair project has removed more than 35,000 cubic tons of mud and debris, repaired eroded slopes, replaced damaged signs, installed temporary K-rail barriers, added debris flow netting and built two retaining walls.
Remaining tasks include finalizing retaining walls at postmiles 2.5 and 2.7, completing an 84-inch reinforced concrete pipe to replace a 36-inch drainage line for greater storm capacity, and finishing Southern California Edison cable undergrounding, which requires weekday one-lane control from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. between Old Topanga Canyon Road and Happy Trail.
A few extended weekend closures of up to 55 hours may be needed for pipe work, with at least two weeks’ notice to be provided. Telecommunications cable undergrounding will require one-lane control from 8 p.m. to midnight starting in early March between PCH and postmile 1.8.
