Too Long Didn't Read
- Two "quick-build" roundabouts are coming to Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in western Malibu, at Encinal Canyon Road and El Matador Beach Road. They are a city-led pilot, funded largely through Measure M, built to slow traffic and calm the corridor.
- The roundabouts are the visible piece of a much larger effort. Caltrans has programmed roughly $69 million to rehabilitate and upgrade the western stretch of PCH from Cross Creek Road to the Ventura County line, with construction projected from fall 2026 through spring 2030.
- The package adds guardrails, curb ramps, new sidewalks at bus stops, better lighting, bike lanes, and median work. Up to five speed safety cameras are authorized separately.
- For owners, the headline is straightforward: the corridor's single biggest knock, traffic safety, is finally being addressed at scale. There is short-term construction to plan around, and at least one lane stays open in each direction the whole time.
Anyone who lives here has had the same thought pulling onto Pacific Coast Highway on a summer Friday: this road was built for a quieter Malibu than the one we have now. That is about to change. The most visible sign will be two roundabouts on PCH in western Malibu, and behind them sits the largest coordinated safety investment the highway has seen in a generation.
We field questions about it constantly from buyers eyeing western Malibu and from owners along the highway who want to know what construction means for their property. So let's lay out what is actually happening, what is confirmed, and what it means if you own or plan to buy near PCH.
What the PCH Roundabouts in Malibu Actually Are
The two roundabouts will go in at the PCH intersections with Encinal Canyon Road and El Matador Beach Road, in the western part of the city near the state beaches. They are described as "quick-build" roundabouts, which means they are a pilot: single-lane, built with modular materials rather than a full permanent reconstruction, and designed so the city can measure how they perform and adjust before committing to anything permanent.
The goal is speed. Roundabouts force drivers to slow to navigate the circle, which removes the high-speed T-bone and left-turn collisions that straight signalized intersections produce. The project is led by the City of Malibu, funded largely through the county's Measure M transportation sales tax, and supported by Caltrans, the state agency that owns and operates PCH. Early cost estimates put the pilot around $1.2 million.
The path to approval was not quiet. A group of neighbors appealed the city Planning Commission's decision, raising concerns about lane capacity and emergency access. In 2026, the City Council denied that appeal and approved the coastal permit, clearing the roundabouts to move toward construction, which is expected to take roughly 90 days once it begins, followed by a period of data collection. Because it is a pilot, the design can be refined based on how traffic actually behaves.
If you own near Encinal Canyon or the El Matador, La Piedra, and El Pescador beach cluster, this is the change you will notice first and most directly. Those are the same western state beaches where questions of public versus private sand come up constantly, and calmer highway access only makes them more livable. A roundabout that shaves even a few seconds off approach speeds is the kind of feature that makes a stretch of highway feel calmer to live along, not busier.
The Bigger Picture: Caltrans's PCH Safety Project
The roundabouts get the attention, but the far larger project is Caltrans's rehabilitation of western PCH. The first phase, known as Project I, covers PCH from Cross Creek Road to the Los Angeles County/Ventura County line, which takes in most of Malibu's western coast. It rehabilitates roughly 63 lane miles of pavement and layers in a long list of safety features.
Caltrans has pegged the western Malibu segment at about $69 million, with earlier reporting citing figures north of $50 million as the scope was finalized. It is state-funded through the State Highway Operation and Protection Program, so it is not coming out of the city's budget. The City Council approved it in late 2025 on a 3-to-1 vote, denying an appeal from the Malibu Township Council.
Here is what the approved Project I package includes:
| Improvement | What Caltrans is adding |
| Guardrails | 19 new guardrails |
| Curb ramps | 22 upgraded ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) curb ramps |
| Sidewalks | Nearly 7,000 feet of new sidewalk, roughly 1.3 miles, mostly at bus-stop locations |
| Lighting | 27 new light poles, reduced from an initial 38 |
| Bike lanes | 9.7 miles of Class II bike lanes and striping |
| Retaining walls | Three new retaining walls |
| Intersections | Two realigned intersections |
| Other | A law-enforcement pullout area and median reconstruction at various points |
A few of these features drew debate, and the way the city resolved it tells you something about how Malibu protects its character while accepting the upgrades. The lighting was the flashpoint. Residents worried that new streetlights would wash out Malibu's dark night sky, so the council required every fixture to be Dark Sky compliant: fully shielded, aimed downward, and a warm 3,000-kelvin color temperature. Caltrans had already trimmed the light count from 38 to 27 on its own.
The other sticking point was a proposed sidewalk in front of Pepperdine University, between Malibu Canyon Road and John Tyler Drive. As a condition of approval, Caltrans has to gather input from the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, the county Fire Department, and Pepperdine on the sidewalk design before building permits are issued. Caltrans has said any curbs will be mountable by emergency vehicles.
Construction on Project I is projected to run from fall 2026 through spring 2030. A separate eastern phase, Project II, covers PCH from the McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica to just south of Cross Creek Road, bringing the same kind of work toward eastern-Malibu enclaves like Carbon Beach, La Costa Beach, and Big Rock later this decade. Both are being planned around the 2028 Olympic and Paralympic Games so they do not disrupt the events.
Speed Cameras and the PCH Recovery
Two more pieces complete the picture. First, a state law signed in 2024 authorized Malibu to add up to five speed safety cameras along PCH. Their intended purpose is simple: to encourage drivers to keep to the posted limit through the busier stretches, with locations under consideration in areas like Decker Canyon and Latigo Canyon. The program is still working its way through the standard legal and administrative review, and the authority to move ahead is in place.
Second, PCH has come a long way since the January 2025 Palisades Fire. The 11-mile stretch that closed after the fire reopened on May 23, 2025, a real milestone in the coast's recovery, and traffic has been flowing again since. A reduced 25 mph limit stays in place through the active work zones while crews finish the remaining cleanup and repairs, so it is worth allowing a few extra minutes and checking Caltrans's live map when you head out. These are temporary measures tied to the recovery, not the everyday PCH experience.
The common thread across the roundabouts and the cameras is a calmer, more predictable drive. Each piece is designed to keep speeds reasonable through the stretches where people walk, bike, and pull in and out of driveways, which is what makes a coastal highway feel good to live along.
Why Now: The Safety Case Behind the Project
Between 2018 and 2023, 15 people died in collisions on the Malibu stretch of PCH, according to a draft safety audit that Caltrans, the city, and the county sheriff conducted along the 21-mile corridor. The audit's recommendations, more continuous sidewalks, better lighting where people walk, guardrails, and bike lanes, are essentially the blueprint for the Project I package.
We mention this not to cast a shadow over the coast, which remains one of the most extraordinary places to live in the country, but because it explains the momentum. The state and the city are aligned, the funding is committed, and the appeals are resolved. For a corridor whose one persistent weakness has always been the highway running through it, that is a meaningful, and more valuable turn for Malibu real estate.
What the PCH Safety Project Means for Malibu Homeowners
How does all of this touch property values and daily life?
Which areas are most affected. Project I runs through western Malibu, so owners and buyers around Encinal Canyon, Trancas, Broad Beach, Zuma, Point Dume access, Corral Canyon, and the Pepperdine and Serra Road area will see the most direct activity. Homes with PCH frontage or a driveway straight onto the highway are the most exposed to construction phasing, and also the most likely to benefit from calmer traffic and better sightlines once the work is done.
The long-term picture is a plus. A safer, better-lit, more walkable highway addresses the exact concern buyers raise most often about coastal Malibu. Preserved dark skies, real bike lanes, upgraded crossings, and slower speeds make a neighborhood more livable, not less, and those are the qualities that hold value over time. When the highway feels safer to cross and quieter to live along, that shows up in how buyers weigh a property.
The short-term is construction to plan around, not to fear. Work on Project I stretches across several years, and it will bring intermittent lane closures, some nighttime work, and reduced speed limits in the active zones. Caltrans has committed to keeping at least one lane open in each direction at all times, posting detour routes on changeable message signs, and holding nighttime noise to state limits. For most owners the practical effect is timing: build extra minutes into a commute, and think about construction phases when you plan a sale or a move.
If you are selling. Public road projects do not trigger the same disclosure obligations as a private defect on your own parcel, but buyers will ask, and it is far better to get ahead of it. Framed accurately, the safety upgrades are a selling point: the corridor your buyer is worried about is being professionally rebuilt with committed state funding. If your sale lands during an active construction phase nearby, we can help you position the timeline honestly and to your advantage.
If you are buying. Factor the construction window into your thinking on a PCH-adjacent home, and weigh it against the upside of owning along a highway that will be materially safer by the end of the decade. For a long-term hold, buying just ahead of a major public safety investment is usually the right side of the trade.
The through-line for owners is that Malibu is getting a safer, more considered version of the road it has always depended on, with the city guarding the coastal character, the night sky, and emergency access every step of the way.
Buying or Selling Along PCH in Malibu?
Infrastructure changes like this reward owners who understand them early. As a top Malibu realtor with Sotheby's International Realty and 25 years selling this coast, we track every phase of the PCH work because it shapes how specific streets and enclaves trade, from Encinal Canyon to Point Dume to the Cross Creek corridor.
If you are weighing homes for sale in Malibu CA near the project route, or thinking about selling a home in Malibu CA during the construction window, we can help you time it right, read the map street by street, and price with the full picture in view. Explore current Malibu listings, start with our guide to buying in Malibu or guide to selling in Malibu, and reach out whenever you want a straight read on how PCH changes affect your property.
Call us anytime at 310-980-8809 or get in touch here.
Shen Schulz, Sotheby's International Realty
Sources
- City of Malibu, PCH Roundabouts Project. malibucity.org/1182/PCH-Roundabouts-Project
- Caltrans District 7, PCH Pavement Rehabilitation Projects (Santa Monica to Ventura County Line). dot.ca.gov
- Caltrans, State Route 1/PCH Quick-Build Roundabouts pilot. engage.dot.ca.gov/w02525
- Santa Monica Daily Press, "Malibu Council Approves $50 Million PCH Safety Project Despite Appeal." smdp.com
- LAist, "The state says it wants to help Malibu make Pacific Coast Highway safer." laist.com
- Westside Current, "Malibu to Launch $1.2 Million Pacific Coast Highway Roundabout Project." westsidecurrent.com
- City of Malibu, Pacific Coast Highway Safety (speed cameras). malibucity.org/1143/Pacific-Coast-Highway-Safety
- Office of Governor Newsom, speed-camera legislation for PCH (2024). gov.ca.gov
- Los Angeles Times, "Pacific Coast Highway reopens, easing traffic bottleneck" (May 23, 2025). latimes.com