The mile of Laguna Canyon Road that runs between El Toro Road and the entrance to the 133 toll road has emerged from a $43.9 million makeover that buried its overhead utility lines, added new bike lanes, and reworked the shoulder for a stretch long flagged as one of Laguna Beach’s most hazardous approaches into town. Construction began in 2024, but the overall effort traces back 12 years, and state and local officials gathered this week to mark its completion.
Crews removed large utility poles along the corridor and tucked communication and power lines into at least 12 underground vaults, according to the Orange County Register. Laguna Beach City Manager Dave Kiff described the effort as a partnership between Orange County and Southern California Edison, saying taking the lines down is a net positive for both driver safety and fire safety.
Beyond the undergrounding, crews widened the roadway, added pedestrian paths, improved crossings and transit stops, and installed drought-tolerant landscaping, the newspaper’s report notes. Orange County Fifth District Supervisor Katrina Foley called the finished stretch a milestone in state and local partnership, praising Bob Whalen and other officials for their work getting it built.
Why the Canyon Corridor Is Laguna Beach’s Fire Safety Bottleneck
The stakes go beyond convenience. Laguna Canyon Road is one of just three primary vehicular corridors in and out of Laguna Beach, carrying roughly 36,000 commuters a day to work, school and the beach, according to the Office of OC Supervisor Katrina Foley. It’s also considered critical for evacuations, the Register has reported — a designation with extra weight in a city scarred by the October 1993 firestorm, when flames jumped the canyon road and destroyed 286 homes in Laguna Beach, according to The Los Angeles Times’ archives. Laguna Beach Fire Department modeling has since found that if both Laguna Canyon Road and Coast Highway were compromised in a disaster, resident evacuation times could grow by as much as three hours and 45 minutes, the paper reported in 2023…