Over A Year Later, There's Still No Money To Fix One Of LA's Most Popular Driving Roads

One of the most popular car and motorcycle spots in Southern California has been closed for over a year, and if you're one of the many people hoping to hang out at The Snake on Mulholland Highway, don't hold your breath.

This twisty section of road north of Malibu has long been a popular spot for motorcyclists and cars to hang out, peel out, and sometimes crash and go to jail. A little over a year ago, the Woolsey fire burned the area and subsequent rains washed away two sections of the road. There hasn't been much progress in fixing the road since then, except for some drainage work under the road in one place.

Early last year, Los Angeles County's road closure website had a date for reopening the road, but that date came and went. The site now says "TBD." Five months ago, an online petition was put up asking for the road to be repaired. The supporters put up a response they got from the city in regards to the repair which said:

Thank you for contacting the Los Angeles County Department of Public Works. Public Works has been working with state and federal agencies to identify and secure emergency recovery funding to perform the necessary repairs on Mulholland Highway. Public Works is unable to provide a timeline of when these repairs will be completed at this time.

The most popular hangout spot where most of the burnouts, wheelies, and other shenanigans happened was the first 180 degree turn off of Kanan Road coming from the west. The road closure barrier had been placed before this spot, even though the road damage is more than a mile away. On the other side of the closure is The Rock Store, a popular motorcycle spot that still sees lots of traffic in spite of the road closure. Sentiment there is that the placement of the western closure is a convenient way to try and kill off the corner as a hangout.

I reached out to Los Angeles County and they responded with the same answer that was given to the online petition people, and no response to the question of why the western barrier was placed a mile from the road damage.

This was always a great place on weekends to see cool bikes and cars. It's where I ran into Jay Leno while driving my Honda S600 and he invited me on his YouTube show. It's also known for having some obnoxious assholes, and a pretty regular police presence. Even a year later, the road is still covered in tire marks from burnouts, drifting, and donuts. So it isn't a huge stretch of the imagination to think that the County and local residents might not be in a rush to get the road reopened.

The problem may not be that there is no money, but that nobody is looking very hard for it.