Business Owners Complain Of Sharp Revenue Drop During PCH Construction

SANTA MONICA (CBSLA.com) — Construction work along Pacific Coast Highway in Santa Monica is being blamed by some local businesses for a steep drop in revenue.

Traffic along State Route 1 has slowed considerably since the city of Los Angeles began construction in early April on a sewer line that will divert polluted dry-weather water runoff from canyons leading to the Santa Monica Bay and transfer it to the Hyperion Treatment Plant.

The effort marks the city's second attempt after plans to build more than a mile of new 4-foot-high sewer pipe ended 900 feet short of its goal two years ago.

But even as Caltrans has considered changing the traffic signal timings along PCH in Pacific Palisades, some business owners have reported steep drops in revenue - even as high as 80 percent - since the effort got underway.

Warning signs have been placed as far away as Agoura Hills to warn commuters along the Ventura (101) Freeway to avoid the stretch of PCH, while drivers from the Westside have been urged to use Sunset Boulevard or Entrada Drive as alternatives.

About 80,000 vehicles per day use this section of PCH daily, according to Caltrans records, with many of those traveling between Ventura County and the Westside.

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