Pismo Beach is considering taking ownership of a 2.5 mile stretch of Highway 1 thanks to a new bill recently signed by Governor Gavin Newsom.
Senate Bill 504 allows Caltrans to part with its authority over Highway 1 through the Pismo Beach city limits.
The bill will go into effect in January 2020.
The city says they've considered taking over Highway 1 for the past few years in order to address traffic circulation and road management issues.
"During the summertime, especially on the weekends, we have a lot of traffic downtown and there's certain intersections where we think we can do a better job with traffic control and we can only do that if we control Highway 1," said Mayor Ed Waage.
The city says tourists, locals, and residents sometimes have issues with parking and backed up traffic after making a left on Ocean View Avenue onto Highway 1.
Taking ownership of the road would mean increased maintenance and construction bills for Pismo Beach, but the city says those are issues they are willing to dig into deeper.
"We want to wait until it's brought up to good standards of repair if we took it and then it's a matter of do the benefits we receive of moving people around better balance or outweigh the cost of owning the highway," added Pismo Beach City Manager Jim Lewis.
