For more than six years, adrenaline junkies wish that now, too, they can take care of the corners of the Serpentines of a Mulholland Highway with the crisp air rushing through their hair.
Their wait ended Tuesday as a 2.4-mile section of road known as “the snake” caught fire.
The stretch of highway between Kanan Road and Sierra Creek Road has been closed to traffic since early 2019 after it was damaged by the Woolsey fire and winter rains.
Before the closure, the snake was known to attract motorcyclists and car races and frequent collisions.
Now, with a new set of safety improvements in the area, La County officials hope the road can shed its dangerous reputation.
Motorcyclists ride along Mulholland Highway near Agoura Hills in 2010.
(Chris Carlson/Press Press)
These include new warning curve signs, reinforced junctions, revised road markings, safety bollards and flare strips designed to slow down traffic. The California Highway Patrol will conduct traffic enforcement and establish traffic enforcement to stop the race at night, and the La County Sheriff’s Department will issue citations to vehicles illegally operated on the side of the road.
“We have kept this highway closed after the Woolsey fire for as long as state law allows, and we are committed to keeping Mulholland Highway safe for everyone,” La County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement. “My office has directed public works to continue to assess the area for further development and report back six months and twelve months.”
In 2016, prior to the road closure, the board of supervisors voted to ban vehicles from parking on both sides of the highway in an effort to eliminate spectators.
During the Woolsey fire, which burned 97,000 acres of Malibu over 13 days, the guard rail melted, the pavement burned, and the bridge was destroyed.
The road reopened to pedestrians and cyclists in April 2020 after infrastructure repairs.
In 2023, Horvath led the initiative to implement Vision Zero on the Mulholland highway, which ordered public works to evaluate traffic conditions and identify ways to improve safety and reduce vehicle speeds.
Vision zero is a national effort to end deaths and serious injuries from road accidents. As part of the plan, LA County established a goal of reaching zero traffic deaths on unpaved roads by 2035. On average, more than 75 people die each year.
While many motorlists are happy with the reopening of the snake this week, some residents are mourning the end of the quiet period.
In an article written in 2023 in the local news outlet The Acorn titled “Keep the snake closed, quiet,” resident and cyclist Todd Bank explained how peace and safety are increased when you are quiet and safety is increased when there are no cars.
“This section of La County Roadway, once closed to traffic, has become a magical place again, perhaps as it was a century ago,” he wrote. “It gives a lot of pleasure now.”
Although some residents were encouraged to get the road for the sole purpose of making money, the snake does not meet the state’s requirements to do so.
“Maintaining Mulholland Highway as a functional road is important for public safety in emergency response, evacuation, and retrieval efforts and provides access and connection to the Department of Public Works in all of Santa Monica’s reports. “This need can be compared to how Tuna Canyon Road served as a critical connection for ingress and egress in the Santa Monica Mountains when Topanga Canon Boulevard was closed.”
Public works also pointed out that it was a road that will be converted into a private road, the residents will have to consider the cost of repairs and maintenance. After the Woolsey fire, the County spent $3 million to repair the closed portion of Mulholland Highway and was able to get most of the money spent back from the federal government.
