On Oct. 27, Caltrans began grinding and repaving Pacific Coast Highway west of Malibu Lagoon. The job is scheduled to run into 2030. Much of what the highway will look like once the crews leave was set a year ago by Malibu's Planning Commission and City Council, and their edits will show up in the finished road.
The finished highway will have painted bike lanes, narrower travel lanes, new sidewalks and new light poles. It will have 15 fewer light poles than Caltrans first proposed. The ones that do go in must be shielded, warm-toned and aimed down. And the most disputed piece of sidewalk on the corridor, along Pepperdine University's frontage, survived only with conditions attached.
What started on Oct. 27, and the rules crews work under
Caltrans' project page describes this first phase as running from Cross Creek Road to the Los Angeles County/Ventura County line. When it's finished, about 63 lane miles will be rehabilitated at a cost of $69 million. Malibu.FM reported that the work runs from the Malibu Creek Bridge "all the way out to the county line near Neptune's Net." Chumo Construction Inc. of Baldwin Park holds the contract.
The City of Malibu's traffic advisory and Caltrans lay out these working rules:
- Hours: weekdays only, 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., weather permitting
- Lanes: at least one lane open in each direction, with flaggers, traffic control and lower speed limits in the work zone
- Fines: the city reminds drivers that fines may be doubled in construction zones
- Side effects: noise, vibration and grinding for homes and businesses near the work
- Olympics: Caltrans says it will plan the schedule around the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Malibu.FM reports that construction will pause during the Games
Caltrans lists the work as pavement rehabilitation, ADA curb ramps, guardrails, signage and road technology upgrades, roadway lighting, signal improvements and new striping. Malibu had a say in the features layered on top of that maintenance.
A maintenance contract that also carries safety features
Caltrans classifies the job as Capital Preventive Maintenance, meant to extend the life of the pavement and smooth the ride. It also brings in parts of the agency's Complete Streets program, which Caltrans says will "increase safety and mobility features for cyclists, pedestrians and motorists to share the road." According to Malibu.FM, state law requires Caltrans to include bike lanes, crosswalks and other non-vehicle features whenever it repaves in a California city. Malibu.FM also reports that the repaving will bring painted bike lanes and narrower traffic lanes on both sides of the highway.
That puts this contract on a separate track from the long-range PCH Master Plan. Caltrans calls the repaving a mid-term safety measure and says the master plan, along with a traffic safety plan for the Santa Monica-to-county-line stretch, is still in early phases. The repaving is also separate from the earlier short-term upgrades, which included a pedestrian crosswalk near Carbon Canyon Road, and from the two Measure M-funded quick-build roundabouts near El Matador State Beach that Caltrans is supporting alongside the city.
Because the safety features came bundled with routine maintenance, they still needed a local permit. They ran into opposition at that stage.
What the hearings changed
Caltrans needed Coastal Development Permit No. 25-009 from the City of Malibu for the stretch from Serra Road to the Ventura County line. At an Oct. 20, 2025 Planning Commission meeting, LAist reported, community members and some commissioners argued for four hours that the sidewalks, streetlights and unprotected bike lanes threatened Malibu's "rural" character and wouldn't make the road safer. Commissioners asked Caltrans for more information and changes before they would vote.
Here is how the project's numbers moved between the November 2025 agenda and final approval:
| Element | Nov. 3, 2025 agenda | Approved by Planning Commission, Nov. 3, 2025 | Approved by City Council, Nov. 24, 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| New light poles | 42 | 27 | 27 |
| New or upgraded bike lanes | 15 miles | 15 miles | 9.7 miles |
| New sidewalks | 6,956 linear feet | 6,956 linear feet | 6,956 linear feet |
| New or upgraded curb ramps | 22 | 22 | 22 |
| New guardrails | 19 | 19 | 19 |
| Realigned intersections | 2 | 2 | 2 |
The bike-lane change is not a cut. The City Council minutes record the Council amending its resolution "to correct the typographical error and list the bike lane mileage as 9.7 miles." The light poles did change. The Planning Commission approved revised lighting plan sheets dated Oct. 31, 2025, and its final motion approved 27 poles. The approved package also includes three new retaining walls, a vehicle pull-out for law enforcement and median reconstruction at various locations.
The Planning Commission approved the permit 4-1. The Malibu Township Council appealed. On Nov. 24, 2025, the City Council denied that appeal and approved the permit 3-1, with one councilmember recused.
Fewer lights, and warmer ones
The lighting shows Malibu's edits most clearly. On top of trimming the pole count, the Planning Commission added a condition that controls what kind of light the new poles give off. In the words of the Nov. 3, 2025 minutes:
"Caltrans shall utilize light fixtures that are Dark Sky compliant to the maximum extent feasible. The light fixtures shall be fully shielded, 3,000 kelvin in color temperature, directed downward, and must not exceed the light trespass limits onto adjacent properties listed in MMC Section 17.41.050(G) unless necessary for adequate ingress/egress as reasonably determined by the Community Development Director. City staff shall inspect the installed lights at the cost of Caltrans and confirm compliance with this condition."
At 3,000 kelvin, the light is the warm white of a typical household bulb rather than the bluer white of many modern streetlights. Fully shielded, downward-aimed fixtures keep light on the road and off the sky and the houses beside it. The condition also has a check built in. City staff inspect the installed fixtures, and Caltrans pays for the inspection.
The Pepperdine sidewalk stayed, with conditions
The longest stretch of new sidewalk to draw a direct challenge runs along PCH in front of Pepperdine University, between Malibu Canyon Road and John Tyler Drive. At the Nov. 3, 2025 hearing, a commissioner moved to remove it. The motion failed for lack of a second.
The commission kept the sidewalk and attached a condition. It is approved "so long as Caltrans gathers input on this section's sidewalk design as related to public safety from LASD, LACFD and Pepperdine University," and city staff must confirm that Caltrans communicated with and considered input from those three before any building permit is approved. That stretch of frontage sits near the Malibu Canyon Road intersection, one of the busiest on PCH. The sidewalk's final design will reflect input from the Sheriff's Department, the Fire Department and the university, in addition to Caltrans' own standards.
At those hearings, people speaking for the project included film producer and road safety advocate Michel Shane. LAist quoted him saying, "If this is shot down for whatever reason, then we're a bunch of fools." The permit Malibu ultimately approved was a compromise. It kept the sidewalks and bike lanes while limiting the lighting.
The eastern half comes next
The western job is half of a larger plan. A second Caltrans project, budgeted at $85 million, will repave about 57 lane miles from the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica to just south of Cross Creek Road. Construction there is scheduled from late 2027 through 2030. Together, the two projects cover 120.6 lane miles at a programmed cost of about $154 million. The eastern project includes an ADA-accessible crosswalk at the Entrada Drive traffic light in Pacific Palisades. It will give pedestrians and cyclists a way across PCH without the stairs in the two century-old tunnels beneath it.
The eastern corridor is also where Caltrans' Palisades Fire repairs are still under way. Both repaving projects are separate from that work. In July 2026, The Malibu Times described the fire repairs as slope, wall, drainage and debris-flow protection. Caltrans said then that many of the remaining emergency projects were expected to continue through the end of 2026. For drivers headed toward Santa Monica, that means fire-corridor repairs and western repaving running at the same time through the end of this year, then western and eastern repaving overlapping from late 2027.
Day-to-day lane closures change faster than any schedule. Caltrans posts current conditions on QuickMap and on Caltrans District 7's X account, and the City of Malibu posts advisories through its Alert Center. Caltrans says it will activate changeable message signs ahead of any closure that needs a detour.
Changes along PCH matter to anyone who owns or is thinking of buying along it, whether that means new sidewalk out front, a light pole near the driveway, or three years of weekday work crews. If you'd like to talk through what this project means for a property between Cross Creek and the county line, Malibu Premier Homes knows this stretch of highway well and is glad to help. Contact Us.
