Repairs on Coast Highway

The northbound lanes of Coast Highway, south of El Morro Elementary School in Laguna Beach, were closed for about six hours Tuesday as a road crew worked to stabilize a slope above the highway, which had fractured through erosion, according to Caltrans officials. The lanes were reopened at 3 p.m. but the No. 2 northbound lane will be closed again, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Wednesday, so that workers can remove embankment material, said Gloria Roberts, a spokeswoman for Caltrans’ District 12 office in Irvine.

Meanwhile, Newport Beach officials said in a bulletin posted on the city’s website that, on Nov. 29, Caltrans will start a longer-term emergency repair project to fix a second unstable stretch of Coast Highway between Laguna Beach and Corona del Mar. Emergency road repairs will begin then on an embankment along the highway’s southbound side at Crystal Cove State Park, which has deteriorated through storm water runoff, Newport officials said.

Caltrans will now have to build a pair of earth-retaining structures to protect and stabilize that embankment, according to the city bulletin. The project is to last through spring 2012, Newport officials said. Work on that project would be performed from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. Sunday through Friday.