Canyon Road now two lanes

The new, two-lane Laguna Canyon Road is now open inbound (southbound) to Laguna Beach and one lane is open northbound.

The $33 million Highway 133 road reconfiguration project, which broke ground in January 2003, will be dedicated in a two-hour ceremony with some 200 invited guests from 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday.

The ceremony will be held in an area north of the Route 33 Toll Road.

While work on the roadway has been going on for more than three years, that is a fraction of the time spent planning the project and getting it approved.

“When I first took office, I was told that I really should involve myself in something that everybody supported,” 5th District Supervisor Tom Wilson said of the road project. “Well, it took seven years to break ground.”

Wilson, who is termed out this year, is among the many dignitaries and community members expected to attend the ceremony. The road will be fully open both ways by early this week, said Ignacio Ochoa, Orange County’s assistant director of public works.

“The last remaining lane will be restriped over the weekend,” he said, just in time for the dedication.