Slow Down on the Scenic Route : Live Oak Canyon Road Shouldn’t Be Made Into a Superhighway

If Live Oak Canyon Road didn’t exist already as the major route in and out of Trabuco Canyon, some novelist would have to conjure it up. Its canopy of twisted branches creates a tunnel effect one might expect to come across in Lewis Carroll, or encounter on a dark night in an old mystery. Its twists and turns and stately trees have inspired uncommon devotion. How many other roads have residents adopting trees, and tying their names to them?

The future of the road has its own ties, to a larger and yet unresolved county planning issue. How many new houses can be built on 6,500 acres that lie along the border of Cleveland National Forest? The road is treacherous and over-driven now, which suggests something about the undesirable trade-off that would be forced by any major new development.

The four-mile stretch carries about 4,200 vehicles a day, mostly commuters who take the rural route as an alternative to freeway travel. California Highway Patrol statistics show a total of 40 accidents during a recent 15-month period. The road probably would benefit from some improvements. But it was never designed to be a commuter workhorse, and shouldn’t be converted to that purpose. If too much is done, it simply would become like any other major highway. It would fill up and lose its oak trees. For shame.

Don’t expect too much of Live Oak Canyon Road. The Orange County Planning Commission has voted to eliminate a proposed bypass road, called Rose Canyon Road, from the county’s Master Plan for Arterial Highways. That means that the commission will debate the future of Live Oak Canyon Road in the future as planners formulate a growth plan for Trabuco Canyon.

However that turns out, the future shape of the road should not be decided by the push of development.

Make it safer, but don’t make it a superhighway that loses its scale and charm.