Southern California Regional Rocks and Roads

Kanan – Dume Road, County Route N9, is one of the main connectors from US 101 to SR-1 through the Santa Monica Mountains. The road connects to US 101 at Kanan Road (Exit 36). At Mulholland Highway, it becomes Kanan-Dume Road. It continues to run southerly to reach Pacific Coast Highway (State 1) in Malibu near Point Dume. It passes through a portion of the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area and is a major commuting route. In the 1960’s, plans were laid to upgrade the highway to a four lane freeway or expressway, serving as a “Nuclear Evacuation Route” in the event of war. While this never happened, it did eventually get partly upgraded. Three sets of tunnels were dug along the highway from 1967 to 1982. The southernmost tunnels are the newest of the three sets.