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| SR-133 Protect Connect Project |
Remember the fire-and-fear campaign of 2018 led by a city Subcommittee to place a $500 Million bond measure before the voters for city-wide undergrounding of SCE electric power utilities? If we don't underground our utilities they said, Laguna will burn like Paradise CA, but then in a 2018 referendum vote Laguna defeated the bond measure. Well today they are at it again, rather than a Covid-like campaign the Protect and Connect Project will couch the undergrounding campaign in eco-friendly bikelanes and a transit route down both sides of Laguna Canyon Road (LCR), from Canyon Acres to El Toro Road.
This brief summary is taken from the August 2022 Approved Project Study
Report approved by the city manager and Caltrans. Of five
alternative designs the preferred design Alt-5 shows the existing
34-foot travelway will expand to add bike-way and sidewalk
improvements on both sides, a bus route with 10-stops. The existing
right-of-way (RW) is from 68 to 95-feet, the project will consume
all of it, even Big Bend at 53 feet grows another 9-feet. The SCE
Distribution Transmission and Telecom lines are located in vaults at
the maximum RW boundary, in some cases on private property. Here's a typical section of the roadway from Caltrans Alternative-5:
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| Roadway Section Alternative-5 Option |
The Level of Service (LOS) is a Caltrans measure of roadway performance for moving cars (not people bikes bus-passengers or rickshaws). A traffic analysis shows the Level of Service (LOS) for traffic will
not improve remaining at 'F' in year 2030 and 2050, the LOS for
biking and walking improves over the present no-provision condition.
No increase in traffic volume is planned and the speed limit will remain
at 40mph. The construction costs estimated are $40 Million, RW
Acquisition costs are $78M, the Alt-5 project total is $141 Million.
On Tuesday 6 May the Laguna Beach Public Works department hosted a Suzi-Q public
workshop inviting the public to review design alternatives. The
meeting was heated and emotional with 100 attendees pushing back the
lack of transparency, planning, scale, cost, and disruption to rural
Laguna Canyon. Two days later the Mayor's Newsletter said the
meeting was well attended and "a Success"!
Hired city consultants Mark Thomas said of this project: "This will
require easements from various [property] owners throughout the
corridor to locate the underground facilities outside of the
right-of-way. This will be cost prohibitive and potentially require
the use of eminent domain and should be considered infeasible."
Hired city consultants HDR said of this project:
"The results of the benefit-cost analysis for the Utility
Undergrounding alternative generally support the conclusion that a
utility undergrounding project along Laguna Canyon Road may be
economically worthwhile under certain conditions if such a plan fits
the City’s vision for the Laguna Canyon Road corridor, but also that
such a project is unlikely to generate benefits well in excess of
project costs." UPDATE: By October 2023 Mark Thomas recommended the project move ahead: "With the cumulative benefit of relinquishment and the ability to effectively mitigate risk to the greatest extent possible, it is recommended that the City formally request Caltrans to immediately initiate the relinquishment process of Lag una Canyon Road ." -Agenda Report 9 January 2024.
During the 2018 fire-and-fear campaign there were three project
alternatives for SR-133 proposed in a city staff report, Alternative
1-No build option, 2-Underground power utilities $90M, 3-harden the
high-risk LCR utility poles for $2M. Alternative 3 would meet the
objective for fire protection yet our Subcommittee nary anybody else
ever mentioned it again. "Way-to-cheap for canyon beautification"
goes the argument.
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| Protected Power Poles Option |
Finally, since March pending legislation now before the California Senate Appropriations Committee (SB-960 Weiner) will force Caltrans to implement Complete Streets on the entire length of LCR and PCH. Indeed all California highways under their control must conform to this Caltrans mandate Deputy Directive 64, this means CALTRANS MUST provide a multi-modal solution for LCR WHETHER OR NOT LAGUNA PURSUES UNDERGROUNDS.
Given pricey consultants hired for expert project recommendations, shouldn't our city Subcommittee heed the advice? Is modifying LCR for no traffic improvement worth the project cost? Just Wondering.
Les Miklosy
Resident
