The Laguna Beach City Council unanimously approved the next step in acquiring Laguna Canyon Road from the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), accepting a conditional monetary offer for the relinquishment of the ownership and maintenance responsibilities of the road to the city. Caltrans would provide the city $14.4 million for the relinquishment.
Per the approval, the city has authorized the city manager to negotiate a relinquishment agreement with Caltrans for Laguna Canyon Road, or State Route 133, which will be brought back for review before the city council at a future meeting. The relinquishment would be approximately two and a half years from the approval.
“It’s a bit of a long road to get there, and tonight is one of the steps necessary to keep the process moving,” City Engineer Tom Perez said.
The city is leading the Laguna Canyon Road: Protect & Connect project, which is for the enhancement of public safety, adding underground utilities and multimodal access such as sidewalks and bicycle lanes while presenting the rural character of the canyon. The preliminary cost estimate for this project is $130 million…