A 3-mile section of Pacific Coast Highway reopened Saturday after a downed power pole caused an hourslong closure, authorities said.
All lanes were temporarily shut down between Latigo Canyon Road and John Tyler Drive, near Pepperdine University, and traffic was diverted to alternative routes, according to the California Highway Patrol.
A fire at the top of the pole caused it to snap about 9:21 a.m., and a wire came down near Corral Canyon Road (map), according to Susan Cox, spokeswoman for Southern California Edison. The cause of the fire was unknown, she said.
Traffic was at a standstill as a result of the highway closure, a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s official told the L.A. Times.
“With this impact in both directions, it is going to be much worse” than normal, said Lt. Michael Williams. “Expect delays and highlight extreme.”
One lane in each direction was reopened around 3 p.m., and all lanes were reopened by 7:15 p.m., the CHP said on Twitter.
As of 5 p.m., 18 customers were without power and it was unclear when service would be fully restored, Cox said. About 245 customers had been without power when the pole went down.
An announcement on the city of Malibu’s telephone hotline said the pole was toppled as a result of a “traffic accident.” However, However, a sheriff’s deputy from the Malibu/Lost Hills station told City News Service there was no crash or outside factor.
KTLA’s Ashley Soley-Cerro contributed to this report.
