Trail to Surf Beach at San O Remains Temporarily Closed

By Eric Heinz

Since the rains started coming in strong around San Clemente, parts of the road to Surf Beach at San Onofre State Park have been closed due to washouts.

Todd Lewis, district superintendent for the Orange Coast District of California State Parks, said on Tuesday that it is his department’s responsibility to issue temporary closures to roads and parking lots when infrastructure is damaged.

“It’s been a combination of circumstances, and wet weather (closures) are part of our protocol to preserve public safety,” Lewis said. “We do close it during wet weather, and high surf and high tides also damage portions of the road, and we’re in the process of realigning the road to get traffic in and out safely.”

Lewis said the State Parks is working with the California Coastal Commission to get repairs done as soon as possible. He also said some people have been cited because they’ve been parking illegally along the side of the roads in the area, but they’re not ticketed for entering the area during hours of operation.

“We have people working on it today to get it realigned,” Lewis said.

Lewis said the closures are temporary, but with more rain in the forecast from Wednesday to Saturday, he said it’s possible that the road closures could continue.