Businesses and residents thrilled for PCH reopening: 'Malibu has really become an island'
"We've missed it a lot. It's a fun place to come. It's part of the Los Angeles landscape."
MALIBU, Calif. (KABC) -- Just in time for Memorial Day weekend, the six-mile stretch of Pacific Coast Highway that's been closed from Pacific Palisades to Malibu for four and a half months due to the Palisades Fire will reopen Friday morning.
It's welcome news for Malibu businesses like Paradise Cove.
"It's a major artery for L.A., and Malibu has really become an island over the past four months," owner Tim Morris. "Looking at all the people who are regulars who have been giving us phone calls, 'Hey, are you guys open? How do we get to you?'"
Morris said business at Paradise Cove is down 40%, even though they've been open, accessible from Ventura County, Kanan Dume and Malibu Canyon.
A recent report released by Beacon Economics and the Pepperdine's School of Public Policy since the Palisades Fire, Malibu businesses have seen, on average, a 70% decline in business. Sales in restaurants and bars in Malibu are down an estimated $7.6 million per month.
"I don't even care if you come to Paradise Cove. I just want you to patronize one of the amazing businesses that make this community so fantastic," said Morris. Come to malibu. Malibu is open."
People like Annie Flower, who lives in Venice, miss going down to Malibu.
"I haven't been here since the fires," she said. "It's just too long of a drive."
Flower had to take her dog to the vet in Malibu on Thursday, which took her double the travel time.
"I come here to bird, people come here to hike, there's all those wonderful canyons," she said. "There's great restaurants. We've missed it a lot. It's a fun place to come. It's part of the Los Angeles landscape."
Caltrans said there will be two lanes of traffic each way on PCH with a speed limit of 25 miles per hour in construction zones as repairs continue.
The Army Corps of Engineers has cleared most of the burned properties along PCH, but debris removal is still underway in Pacific Palisades where 5 checkpoints will be increased to 16.
"People are not allowed to stop in the active construction zone, which a lot of this still is," said Lauren Wonder with Caltrans. "We, Caltrans, still have construction along the slopes where we're installing netting and catchment walls. SCE is still doing undergrounding, so people will expect a lot of delays."
