The Santa Monica City Council voted in November to approve plans and financing for a pedestrian overpass to be built across the California Incline, which has been under construction since April 20, 2015. The Incline will now be closed until at least July 2, 2016.
“Our goal is to open up both new bridges by July 2, 2016,” Curtis Castle, a professional engineer and Construction Manager for the City of Santa Monica, said in an email.
News that the historic California Incline would be closing for one year to be fully demolished and rebuilt up to modern seismic standards caused widespread fear in Malibu, Santa Monica and Pacific Palisades, where residents and commuters imagined the worst — a year of a pinched artery along an already packed thoroughfare between the beachside communities. What if traffic was atrocious until construction ended on May 30, 2016?
Then, day after day, week after week, month after month, traffic flowed no worse than it had when the Incline was open. That may be why the construction of a pedestrian overpass, which will extend the project into July, went through with little fanfare.
“We did have a community meeting where we invited the community to come out,” Stephanie Sweeney, a spokesperson for the City of Santa Monica, said. According to Sweeney, relatively few people came out to the Oct. 5 meeting, during which three possible plans were unveiled, giving the community an opportunity to vote on their favorite overpass design.
“Sometimes you just can’t get the public out, you know, to get excited,” Sweeney added. An overpass plan was chosen, featuring a white bridge spiraling down from the bluffs above the Incline to the pedestrian pathway along the side of the roadway.
The project will add “an amount not to exceed $1.9 million,” to the project, according to the City Council action undertaken at the Nov. 10 meeting. “This will result in an amended contract with a new total amount not to exceed $16,975,306.”
This is part of the first major work done on the California Incline since it was built in the 1930s, and will bring a new ramp, bike lanes and a widened sidewalk along with the pedestrian overpass.
For those who don’t know, the City of Santa Monica has provided a suggested detour map for travelers in both directions. They suggest drivers headed east, from the direction of Malibu, take Ocean Avenue (Moomat Ahiko Way) near the Pier, or take the 10 Freeway and exit at Lincoln.
For commuters in the opposite direction, Santa Monica planners suggest exactly the opposite: either take Lincoln to the 10 (via the Olympic Drive on-ramp), which funnels back onto PCH, or Moomat Ahiko down to westbound PCH.
MCM Construction, Inc. are the contractors in charge of rebuilding the Incline. Designs for the overpass were created by T.Y. Lin, a planning, design and engineering firm.
