By Gabrielle Harradine
Special to the Daily Press

DOWNTOWN Maneuvering downtown could be quite a chore for the next few years as City Hall looks to make significant improvements to the aging sewer system, the California Incline and the Santa Monica Pier bridge.

Macerich, the owners of Santa Monica Place, will also be renovating the mall, which could cause added traffic congestion.

City Hall’s Colorado-Ocean Relief Sewer Project kicks off next week — Jan. 9 — and will include excavating the streets to get to sewer pipelines. This digging will cause the closure of three of the four traffic lanes on Colorado Avenue between Second Street and Ocean Avenue, making Colorado a one-lane, one-way road from Ocean to Second.

One of the project’s goals is to improve the aging sewer line, which was constructed back in the 1950s and damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Another goal is to create additional capacity for the growing population by adding a new pipe that will run parallel to the old one.

The new changes will help prevent sewage spills and improve the health of the Santa Monica Bay, according to City Hall.

However, the lane closures are sure to disrupt business as usual, and isn’t going away anytime soon. The work is expected to last nearly five months.

The disruptions for drivers are the most obvious, but businesses on the block will likely feel the pinch as well, especially the Holiday Inn, which lies right in the epicenter of the project, at Colorado and Second. They will be losing their front parking lot due to the sewer construction.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Chris Jones, Holiday Inn’s General Manager. “A large portion of our business is walk-in from Colorado Avenue.”

The sidewalk on the south side that runs right in front of the hotel may also be closed at times, making the trip for their patrons to the popular Third Street Promenade a much larger effort. City Hall has been working with the hotel to keep the negative impact to a minimum, including creating signage to inform people how to navigate the construction, but the results of the lessened visibility and ease of accessibility to the hotel will be unclear until the work begins.

In addition to the lane closures on Colorado Avenue, the eastbound Metro bus stop on Colorado between Ocean and Second will be moved further east to avoid traffic blockage in the one-lane section.

The sewer renovation project will also include excavating around the old RAND Corp. site off of Main Street. Tunneling will go from there, under the I-10 Freeway, but will not cause any freeway closures, according to Mark Cuneo, principal civil engineer of the project. At some point in the construction there will be night work done on the freeway, but the work should only require temporary shoulder closures.

Il Fornaio restaurant, which lies on the corner of Colorado and Ocean, is also worried about the impact that the project will have on the access to their business.

“It’s terrible,” said Fernanda Cassani, manager of the restaurant. “All of our patrons use this street (Colorado) to get to the valet.”

The restaurant relies heavily on valet parking because of limited parking spaces in the immediate area.

JJ’s Sportswear, a small business that caters to tourists on Colorado between Ocean and Second, is closing up shop after 13 years, but not because of the construction though.

“The rent has gotten too high,” said owner Sam Han.

Just west of the construction, The Lobster, a restaurant and bar perched on Ocean Avenue, will have a birds eye view of any congestion caused by the single eastbound lane on Colorado. Considering this, the general manager, Jack DeNicola, seems pretty understanding about the project.

“They’re doing what they have to do,” DeNicola said. “There’s a need to improve the infrastructure. Other places should follow the example.”

The Colorado-Ocean sewer project marks the start of several improvement projects that will be happening around downtown in 2008 and 2009.

The next to commence is the Santa Monica Place mall renovation, which may be getting under way as soon as February. The renovation project is just waiting on city permits to begin the work. Macerich, the mall development company behind the new Santa Monica Place, “has worked closely with the city on a phasing plan to minimize the impact on the community,” said Bob Aptaker, vice president of development for Macerich.

The construction is expected to stay within the confines of the property and therefore should not require any road closures.

The parking situation might not be affected that dramatically during the mall renovations, since the majority of the lots at Santa Monica Place will stay open while the renovation is completed. Also, all of the shops in the mall will be closed except for Macy’s, which could have an effect on demand for parking spots.

Another upcoming project around downtown is the California Incline renovation, which is projected to start in the fall. The work on this historic roadway will force the closure of the entire incline for an estimated nine to 11 months, according to Craig Perkins, director of environment and public works for City Hall.

Drivers and pedestrians will have to use other routes to get to Pacific Coast Highway.

The Santa Monica Pier also has two projects in the making: One for the access road to the pier and the other is the fourth phase of the pier rehabilitation. Both projects aren’t likely to happen until 2009, but when the former does commence, a huge impact on traffic and access to the pier is expected, according to Ben Franz-Knight, executive director of the Pier Restoration Corp.

news@smdp.comBy Gabrielle Harradine

Special to the Daily Press

DOWNTOWN Maneuvering downtown could be quite a chore for the next few years as City Hall looks to make significant improvements to the aging sewer system, the California Incline and the Santa Monica Pier bridge.

Macerich, the owners of Santa Monica Place, will also be renovating the mall, which could cause added traffic congestion.

City Hall’s Colorado-Ocean Relief Sewer Project kicks off next week — Jan. 9 — and will include excavating the streets to get to sewer pipelines. This digging will cause the closure of three of the four traffic lanes on Colorado Avenue between Second Street and Ocean Avenue, making Colorado a one-lane, one-way road from Ocean to Second.

One of the project’s goals is to improve the aging sewer line, which was constructed back in the 1950s and damaged during the 1994 Northridge earthquake. Another goal is to create additional capacity for the growing population by adding a new pipe that will run parallel to the old one.

The new changes will help prevent sewage spills and improve the health of the Santa Monica Bay, according to City Hall.

However, the lane closures are sure to disrupt business as usual, and isn’t going away anytime soon. The work is expected to last nearly five months.

The disruptions for drivers are the most obvious, but businesses on the block will likely feel the pinch as well, especially the Holiday Inn, which lies right in the epicenter of the project, at Colorado and Second. They will be losing their front parking lot due to the sewer construction.

“It’s a big deal for us,” said Chris Jones, Holiday Inn’s General Manager. “A large portion of our business is walk-in from Colorado Avenue.”

The sidewalk on the south side that runs right in front of the hotel may also be closed at times, making the trip for their patrons to the popular Third Street Promenade a much larger effort. City Hall has been working with the hotel to keep the negative impact to a minimum, including creating signage to inform people how to navigate the construction, but the results of the lessened visibility and ease of accessibility to the hotel will be unclear until the work begins.

In addition to the lane closures on Colorado Avenue, the eastbound Metro bus stop on Colorado between Ocean and Second will be moved further east to avoid traffic blockage in the one-lane section.

The sewer renovation project will also include excavating around the old RAND Corp. site off of Main Street. Tunneling will go from there, under the I-10 Freeway, but will not cause any freeway closures, according to Mark Cuneo, principal civil engineer of the project. At some point in the construction there will be night work done on the freeway, but the work should only require temporary shoulder closures.

Il Fornaio restaurant, which lies on the corner of Colorado and Ocean, is also worried about the impact that the project will have on the access to their business.

“It’s terrible,” said Fernanda Cassani, manager of the restaurant. “All of our patrons use this street (Colorado) to get to the valet.”

The restaurant relies heavily on valet parking because of limited parking spaces in the immediate area.

JJ’s Sportswear, a small business that caters to tourists on Colorado between Ocean and Second, is closing up shop after 13 years, but not because of the construction though.

“The rent has gotten too high,” said owner Sam Han.

Just west of the construction, The Lobster, a restaurant and bar perched on Ocean Avenue, will have a birds eye view of any congestion caused by the single eastbound lane on Colorado. Considering this, the general manager, Jack DeNicola, seems pretty understanding about the project.

“They’re doing what they have to do,” DeNicola said. “There’s a need to improve the infrastructure. Other places should follow the example.”

The Colorado-Ocean sewer project marks the start of several improvement projects that will be happening around downtown in 2008 and 2009.

The next to commence is the Santa Monica Place mall renovation, which may be getting under way as soon as February. The renovation project is just waiting on city permits to begin the work. Macerich, the mall development company behind the new Santa Monica Place, “has worked closely with the city on a phasing plan to minimize the impact on the community,” said Bob Aptaker, vice president of development for Macerich.

The construction is expected to stay within the confines of the property and therefore should not require any road closures.

The parking situation might not be affected that dramatically during the mall renovations, since the majority of the lots at Santa Monica Place will stay open while the renovation is completed. Also, all of the shops in the mall will be closed except for Macy’s, which could have an effect on demand for parking spots.

Another upcoming project around downtown is the California Incline renovation, which is projected to start in the fall. The work on this historic roadway will force the closure of the entire incline for an estimated nine to 11 months, according to Craig Perkins, director of environment and public works for City Hall.

Drivers and pedestrians will have to use other routes to get to Pacific Coast Highway.

The Santa Monica Pier also has two projects in the making: One for the access road to the pier and the other is the fourth phase of the pier rehabilitation. Both projects aren’t likely to happen until 2009, but when the former does commence, a huge impact on traffic and access to the pier is expected, according to Ben Franz-Knight, executive director of the Pier Restoration Corp.

news@smdp.com