Drivers heading south from Newport Beach on Pacific Coast Highway are down to a single lane in each direction. Caltrans closed both southbound lanes between Reef Point Drive and Irvine Cove Drive, with no reopening date set.

The closure, reported by Voice of OC, is part of a phased repair of a crack that appeared Oct. 13 in the bluff supporting the highway. Crews are placing rocks at the base of the slope to prevent a landslide, but the work can only happen at low tide, according to an Instagram post by the city of Laguna Beach.

Phase one covered the crack with a plastic tarp to protect it from rain. The next steps involve smaller fill-buttress rocks followed by larger boulders.

Commuters face a second disruption: Metrolink suspended Orange County Line service between Laguna Niguel/Mission Viejo and Oceanside from Monday, Oct. 26, through Friday, Oct. 30, because of forecast high tides. No replacement buses are being provided. Pacific Surfliner trains, which share the coastal tracks, may continue operating when conditions are safe.

No bus bridge is available during the suspension. When storms knocked the same stretch out of service over Memorial Day weekend for more than a week, buses filled the gap, Voice of OC reported.

The Orange County Transportation Authority (OCTA) board voted Oct. 26 to continue an emergency declaration first made in late September, according to Voice of OC. The declaration allows the agency to bypass normal competitive bidding to get sand and protective structures in place faster.

OCTA also announced plans for a shoreline protection structure that would use pipes to stabilize 1,400 feet of track alongside the rail line, replacing the large boulders known as riprap that currently shore up the area, Voice of OC reported.

"It's our worst condition out there, we're proposing this structure to protect the tracks," OCTA Executive Director of Capital Programs Jim Beil said at the Oct. 26 board meeting, according to Voice of OC.

The emergency action authorized roughly 690,000 cubic yards of sand along the southern Orange County coast, according to a Sept. 28 statement from OC Supervisor Katrina Foley, who represents Newport Beach as part of District 5. But sand delivery is not expected to begin until February 2027 and could wrap up in June 2027, Voice of OC reported Oct. 13.

The National Weather Service has predicted a high chance of a historic El Niño event between October and December, raising the prospect of more high tides, rain and coastal flooding.

More rain is expected this weekend, including on Halloween, Oct. 31.