Sackett: Orange County Transportation Authority’s Railroad Armoring

San Clemente’s beaches are in an existential fight for survival. We’ve known for decades that the Orange County Transportation Authority’s (OCTA) protection of the railroad tracks directly contributes to coastal erosion and the disappearance of our sandy beaches. But instead of working to protect our beaches and remove the tracks, our government is doubling down on costly and wasteful efforts to keep the tracks in place. This failure of leadership cannot be tolerated. 

CalTrans recently announced $125 million dollars in state funding for OCTA to “protect” the LOSSAN corridor along San Clemente’s shoreline (read: bury our beaches with riprap, a technical term for boulders). Rep. Mike Levin secured another $100 million from the federal government to do the same. We are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into armoring our beaches in an effort to keep the railroad tracks in place. We should be investing these funds in alternative transportation solutions that don’t destroy our precious beaches and waves. The public must demand that our iconic beaches not be sacrificed due to OCTA’s ongoing failure to provide sustainable transportation alternatives. 

With federal and state funds currently available for projects like living shorelines and nature-based solutions, we could be using that money to actually restore the coastline and increase resilience with proven methods like managed retreat and coastal dune restoration, not burying it under layers of concrete. Why are we wasting taxpayer dollars on harmful projects that will only ensure the demise of our communal coastal spaces?

We have already witnessed this harm with OCTA’s massive boulder dump at Cotton’s Point in South San Clemente that has blocked public access to San Onofre State Beach, degraded Cottons surf break (part of world-renowned Trestles fame), starved adjacent beaches of natural sand replenishment, and sharply increased erosion. The proposed 2/3-mile-long extension of riprap along San Clemente State Beach will obliterate an extremely popular beach and lead to even more erosion, perpetuating the cycle of increased armoring and ongoing decimation of our sandy beaches. The only sustainable way to guarantee that the railroad won’t succumb to ongoing bluff collapse and ever-increasing storm surges is to move the tracks inland.

We’ve got to stop throwing taxpayer dollars at more coastal armoring. We need to think bigger. Relocating the railroad comes with challenges. We need to reimagine transportation as a whole by investing in smarter regional solutions that don’t rely on eroding shorelines and fragile cliffs for their foundation. After all, our coast isn’t just a backdrop for the railroad, it’s an irreplaceable ecosystem, a vital part of California’s identity, home to beloved waves and a resource that’s worth preserving.

The California Coastal Commission will soon decide whether to approve or deny OCTA’s permit application to permanently retain the riprap at Cotton’s Point that was placed between 2021 and 2022 under an emergency permit. A hearing is tentatively scheduled for early 2025. This riprap destroyed what was left of the beach at Cyprus Shores, made it unpassable at most tides, has become hazardous to surfers at Cotton’s Point, and is threatening the wave at Trestles. We hope everyone who loves San Clemente’s beaches and waves will show up and ask the Commission to get the boulders off our beach.

Let’s demand smarter, more sustainable solutions that don’t sacrifice our coastline. And most importantly, let’s stop locking ourselves into a future of endless coastal armoring that we’ll regret.

Mandy Sackett, Senior California Policy Coordinator, Surfrider Foundation, San Clemente

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