Light Is Back in Both PCH Tunnels

By Laurel Busby

Roosevelt Tunnel

News & Information Editor

After many months of darkness, both tunnels that travel under Pacific Coast Highway to Will Rogers State Beach have lighting.

Over the past year, The Canyon Alliance Board Member Sharon Kilbride, who also represents the Canyon on the Pacific Palisades Community Council, regularly urged Senior Field Deputy Arus Grigoryan of City Councilmember Traci Park’s office to address the problem. The tunnels had both a lack of working bulbs and damaged light fixtures.

This morning on Kilbride’s daily bike ride, she checked both the Roosevelt and Little tunnels as part of her work for the Pacific Palisades Task Force on Homelessness, and found them brightly lit.

“The community can finally now feel more safe walking through the tunnels since they’re very well lit now, just in time for the 4th of July,” Kilbride said.

According to Grigoryan, the Bureau of Street Lighting completed the repairs under the direction of the councilmember’s office, utilizing the Westside Task Force, and she said that the responsibility for the tunnels is currently divided between the City and Caltrans.

“Per our agreement, the City is responsible for maintaining lighting, signs, debris removal, and graffiti eradication at the tunnels,” Grigoryan said in an email. “However, the rest of the maintenance is CalTrans's responsibility. We reached out to the CalTrans Office of Maintenance Engineering on June 23rd to request details regarding repairs that might start in 2027, but we did not hear back. Our office will reach out to Senator Ben Allen's office to see if they can help us get a response from CalTrans District 7.”

Kilbride and other residents who use the tunnels regularly expressed gratitude to Grigoryan on an email chain.

“It really helps to keep the homeless folks out of the tunnels because when it’s dark, they seem to gravitate in there at night,” Kilbride said later. “We usually find people in those every day sleeping.”

Little Tunnel