Santa Monica gets $2M to study ripping out freeway, building giant park 

Santa Monica is studying whether to bury part of Interstate 10 under a giant park — or rip the freeway up completely.

The City Council voted unanimously June 9 to accept a $2 million federal grant to study possible “cap parks” over the Santa Monica Freeway between 11th and 20th streets in the city’s Pico Neighborhood, the Santa Monica Daily Press reported.

The study area covers roughly 25 to 30 acres along a stretch of freeway that has divided the neighborhood for decades.

“It’s basically a park on top of a highway,” Senior Park Planner Antonio Lopez told the council, according to the outlet.

But city leaders also directed staff to study broader options, including removing that section of freeway entirely.

The grant comes from the US Department of Transportation’s Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, which funds efforts to repair neighborhoods split apart by major transportation infrastructure.

The freeway displaced more than 1,500 residents in what is now the Pico Neighborhood, severing a predominately black and latino community, city officials said.

Councilmember Ellis Raskin, who made the motion to accept the grant, called the freeway the most significant environmental hazard in Santa Monica and said capping it would only be a partial fix.

“Capping the freeway, in my opinion, would be a partial improvement, but it doesn’t solve the underlying problems,” Raskin said, according to the Santa Monica Daily Press.

He described a freeway cap as “essentially a form of band-aid,” while still calling it a significant improvement.

Raskin said the cty should keep studying the long-term possibility of replacing the freeway with parks, a grand boulevard or other neighborhood-serving uses.

The grant will not fund construction or a final design. Instead, it will pay for a feasibility study looking at existing conditions, possible park locations and the cost of different options.

The study’s final report is due by July 31, 2029, with the grant’s budget period ending in January 2030.

Santa Monica also has to provide a $505,712 local match, which will be covered through staff time and Park and Recreation Development Impact Fee revenues, the outlet reported.

Staff said the city is waiting on a final grant agreement from Caltrans and expects to hire a consultant, with work anticipated to begin spring 2027.

Council members also urged staff to make sure Pico Neighborhood residents and people displaced by the freeway are centered in the process.

Councilmember Caroline Torosis asked staff to move faster if possible.

“If there’s any way to do it quicker than 2030, we would love that,” she said.

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