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# City Hall ramping up for easier pier access
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/city-hall-ramping-up-for-easier-pier-access/
- Published: 2005-06-29T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T07:19:56.000Z
- Author: Ryan Hyatt
- Tags: Government & Politics, Pier, #archive-import

*New ramp, gangway may be coming to pier*

SANTA MONICA PIER — A project intended to make it easier to get to the Santa Monica Pier will be available for public review in coming months.

City officials said a project on the table since the 1994 Northridge Earthquake that would expand the bridge leading onto the Santa Monica Pier will undergo its first public evaluation this fall following the release of an environmental impact report, which will require set guidelines for the project.

Once complete, the upgraded ramp would improve traffic flow on and off of the pier, which some say is often too crowded, even dangerous, during busy hours. In addition, the new ramp could be designed to free up congested areas near the Santa Monica Freeway.

Miriam Mack, the city’s economic development manager, said federal disaster funds from the Northridge quake would likely be used to seismically retrofit and expand the pier bridge. need to make it more accessible and improve conditions, hopefully with wider sidewalks,” Mack said.

Currently, pedestrians and vehicles enter and exit the Santa Monica Pier on the same ramp. The pedestrians use two sidewalks, each no more than a few feet wide, located on either side of the two-lane vehicle path.

Several ideas have been discussed in the past to better separate pedestrian and vehicular traffic on the pier bridge to improve safety and traffic flow. The hope has been to direct vehicular traffic from the ramp to the parking area below the pier, while providing more walking space.

Michael Klein, former chair of the nonprofit Santa Monica Pier Restoration Corp., said he proposed one of the more recent ideas that was met warmly by city groups a few years ago.

Klein suggested that pedestrian traffic be limited to the left side of the pier bridge on an expanded walkway. Vehicular traffic — much of which he said comes from Colorado Avenue — would be allowed one-way access down the right side of the bridge, then veer below and to the right on a new ramp toward the 1550 beach parking lot.

Vehicles would then exit the parking lot onto the Pacific Coast Highway, leading back to the freeway. That would prevent congestion along main freeway corridors, such as on Colorado Avenue at Lincoln Boulevard and Fourth and Fifth streets. Klein said those areas take the brunt of cars going to and from the pier.

Abby Arnold, who served for years as a PRC board member, said the longer the ramp is not redeveloped, the longer the public is exposed to danger.

“This is certainly the time to make the project happen, if not for any other reason but safety,” Arnold said.

> “This is certainly the time to make the project happen, if not for any other reason but safety.” — —ABBY ARNOLD Former board member of the Pier Restoration Corp

Arnold, who began her term on the commission shortly after the Northridge quake, said she and others have been pushing for the bridge expansion ever since, but it has always been put off.

“It never got to the priority level,” Arnold said. “The city has been balancing the needs against the new police building, library, resurfacing the streets.”

Santa Monica Fire Chief Jim Hone said it was impossible to know in any reasonable period of time the number of accidents that might have occurred on the pier ramp as a result of its current configuration.

He said the ramp’s redeveloped ramp would be useful.

“I do think a wider or differently configured ramp with sidewalks more conducive to pedestrian traffic would be a benefit to better separate vehicle traffic and improve overall safety,” Hone said.

The ramp expansion also might pave the way for other pier projects City Hall is considering. The creation of a gangway at the end of the pier is being discussed that would serve as a docking point for boating activities.

Mack said Rincon Consultants, Inc., will be conducting the bridge expansion environmental impact report.

“There are a number of alternatives being looked at for the impact of environmental issues, such as traffic and circulation,” Mack said. “The public will have an opportunity to review the report before it goes to council.”

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/062905-02_01.jpg)

to the Daily Press A pedestrian on Tuesday steps off the sidewalk into the street while walking up the Santa Monica Pier ramp. (Photo: “There are funds available to upgrade the bridge, and pedestrian and vehicle traffic speaks to the Fabian Lewkowicz/Spec)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on June 29, 2005.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/062905.pdf?ref=smdp.com)