It’s taken 12 years, but on Tuesday, Aug. 4, state and local officials gathered to celebrate a nearly $43.9 million improvement project to make Laguna Canyon Road safer for bicyclists and motorists, while also guarding against wildfire.
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The one-mile stretch between El Toro Road and the entrance to the 133 toll road has been widened, including adding bike lanes and improving drainage, and communication and power lines have been taken down and placed in underground vaults.
State, county and local officials gather in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park to celebrate the conclusion of a project that has improved safety for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists along a one-mile stretch of Laguna Canyon Road. (Photo by Erika Ritchie, OC Register/SCNG)
Mayor Mark Orgill and City Manager Dave Kiff talk about road safety near Laguna Canyon Road, where the first part of undergrounding and other safety measures have taken place. (Photo by Erika Ritchie, OC Register/SCNG)
State, county and local officials gather in Laguna Coast Wilderness Park to celebrate the conclusion of a project that has improved safety for motorists, pedestrians and bicyclists along a one-mile stretch of Laguna Canyon Road. (Photo by Erika Ritchie, OC Register/SCNG)
Mayor Mark Orgill and City Manager Dave Kiff talk about road safety near Laguna Canyon Road, where the first part of undergrounding and other safety measures have taken place. (Photo by Erika Ritchie, OC Register/SCNG)
The effort is a first step toward more safety along that canyon roadway that city leaders in Laguna Beach have long advocated for, especially councilmember and former mayor Bob Whalen, who for years has rallied local and state officials to help the city buffer itself against wildfire dangers.
“Any time you can take lines down, you have a net positive in terms of driver safety and fire safety,” said City Manager Dave Kiff, adding that this mile segment was especially costly because the project removed the overhead lines. “This was a great partnership between the county and (Southern California Edison), where the county allocated money they could have allocated anywhere, here.”
Undergrounding the utilities also removed some of the big poles along Laguna Canyon Road. In the last two years, there have been five traffic collisions involving drivers hitting a pole along the winding canyon road.
Among those at the Tuesday morning celebration was Leeann Eager, a California Transportation Commission member who spoke about spending time in Laguna Beach and touring the five miles of canyon roadway with Whalen.
“We saw people trying to cross the road, cars trying to pass others quickly,” she said.
She also said the commissioners visited the wildfire-ravaged town of Paradise in Northern California and talked to people about the worst problems they encountered during the devastating Camp fire.
“They said it was electrical poles falling down in the road,” she said.
“We said, we’re not going to do that here. We’re not going to allow that to happen here,” she said about the undergrounding project along the canyon road, which is one of the main paths in and out of Laguna Beach. Some 36,000 commuters use the road daily.
“We’re not going to put the people of Laguna and everyone along the line in danger here,” she said. “How horrible would that be, if we knew how to fix it and we didn’t do it.”
There is still a desire to underground the utility poles in the last three miles of the road leading into town. Laguna Beach leaders are working with Caltrans to see if the agency might consider placing the remaining utilities in the large container-sized vaults at the sides of the roadway as was done with this project, but that could be difficult considering how the road narrows.
Kiff said the transportation department has been reluctant partly because of the size and space needed for the containers, and if there is a problem, Caltrans doesn’t like the idea of closing traffic down if a repair on a vault is required.
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At least 12 of the vaults were put in along the first mile stretch, Kiff said, but dozens more would be required heading from El Toro Road toward the town.
Laguna Beach leaders are considering spending $14 million to buy Laguna Canyon Road from the state.
Kiff said the city remains in discussions with Caltrans and the city’s insurance carrier to “better understand what the insurance liability would be for the city, if the city were to take over the road for Caltrans and put the utility lines underground.”
“Ideally, we wouldn’t take over the road at all,” he said. “Caltrans would just say, ‘OK, you can put the lines under.’”
The transportation department has given the city six more months to decide whether it wants to accept its offer for $14 million.
“We do need to examine some more things with the community,” Kiff said.
The just-completed project, which began in 2024, also helps with a new entrance to Anneliese Schools, a private school campus near the 133, and adds new drought-tolerant landscaping. In addition to the added bike lanes, there are also pedestrian paths, improved crossings, signal upgrades and enhanced transit stops.
The project “dramatically” improves safety along its stretch of Laguna Canyon Road, which is critical for evacuations, Whalen said. “It is essential we find a path forward to underground the rest of the road to protect our residents and visitors.”
Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley, who spoke at the event, praised the project and the work Whalen and other officials have contributed.
“This has been 12 years in the making,” she said. “This is a great milestone as we partner with state and local leaders.”
Foley added that the county contributed around $11 million to the project, which included chipping in on the cost to underground the utility lines.
The project also included $301,000 in funding from Senate Bill 1, the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017, and $12.3 million in funding from the federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021.
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