Santa Monica might rework the ten Freeway into park house with $2M research

Santa Monica is finding out whether or not to bury a part of Interstate 10 underneath an enormous park — or rip the freeway up fully.

The Metropolis Council voted unanimously June 9 to simply accept a $2 million federal grant to check potential “cap parks” over the Santa Monica Freeway between eleventh and twentieth streets within the metropolis’s Pico Neighborhood, the Santa Monica Day by day Press reported.

The research space covers roughly 25 to 30 acres alongside a stretch of freeway that has divided the neighborhood for many years.

“It’s principally a park on high of a freeway,” Senior Park Planner Antonio Lopez advised the council, in accordance with the outlet.

However metropolis leaders additionally directed workers to check broader choices, together with eradicating that part of freeway fully.

The grant comes from the US Division of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, which funds efforts to restore neighborhoods break up aside by main transportation infrastructure.

The freeway displaced greater than 1,500 residents in what’s now the Pico Neighborhood, severing a predominately black and latino group, metropolis officers mentioned.

Councilmember Ellis Raskin, who made the movement to simply accept the grant, known as the freeway essentially the most important environmental hazard in Santa Monica and mentioned capping it could solely be a partial repair.

“Capping the freeway, in my view, could be a partial enchancment, but it surely doesn’t resolve the underlying issues,” Raskin mentioned, in accordance with the Santa Monica Day by day Press.

He described a freeway cap as “basically a type of band-aid,” whereas nonetheless calling it a big enchancment.

Raskin mentioned the cty ought to maintain finding out the long-term chance of changing the freeway with parks, a grand boulevard or different neighborhood-serving makes use of.

The grant won’t fund building or a remaining design. As an alternative, it would pay for a feasibility research taking a look at current situations, potential park places and the price of totally different choices.

The research’s remaining report is due by July 31, 2029, with the grant’s finances interval ending in January 2030.

Santa Monica additionally has to offer a $505,712 native match, which might be lined by workers time and Park and Recreation Growth Influence Charge revenues, the outlet reported.

Employees mentioned town is ready on a remaining grant settlement from Caltrans and expects to rent a guide, with work anticipated to start spring 2027.

Council members additionally urged workers to ensure Pico Neighborhood residents and folks displaced by the freeway are centered within the course of.

Councilmember Caroline Torosis requested workers to maneuver sooner if potential.

“If there’s any technique to do it faster than 2030, we’d love that,” she mentioned.

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