First phase will cost about $850K and replace 15 pylons
The salt water has taken its toll on the extensive system of braces that support the Santa Monica Pier, spurring the city to launch an ambitious $850,000 repair effort.
Wooden beams below the middle section of the pier haven’t been replaced since the 1980s, when the pier was rebuilt after a massive storm destroyed sections of it.
Now those pylons, as the major beams are called, have been weakened by the constant exposure to salt water and they must be replaced, city officials said.
“Just during the normal course of aging and wear and tear on the structure, some things have to be replaced,” said Mark Richter, the city’s director of economic development. “There are a number of pylons that will have to be replaced over the coming years to retain the pier in good operating condition.”
City officials said the pier is still completely safe because it’s built in a way that if one brace or pylon is weakened, other pylons are able to bear the added load.
“The pier structure is built on a system of redundancy,” Richter said. “Multiple pylons are cross-braced in many ways so that one section always supports many other sections too.”
Portions of the pier have been roped off to make sure heavy vehicles aren’t parked over weakened areas of the structure, said Linda Sullivan, a member of the Pier Restoration Corp., which partners with the city to manage the pier.
“It’s not that they don’t want people walking on it, they just don’t want cars parked on it,” she said.
Construction on the first phase is scheduled to begin after Labor Day weekend this year, when the tourist season traditionally dies down. It’s estimated 15 of the roughly 1,400 pylons will have to be replaced this year, costing the city $850,000.
The primary section that will be replaced is in the middle of the pier, a 200-foot-long section where the amusement park ends and the Harbor Patrol building begins, Richter said.
“That is a section of the pier that was not rehabbed 15 years ago when portions of the pier were replaced,” Richter said. “Each end section was rebuilt and we used concrete pylons. And those continue to be in good shape.”
Officials said the construction is necessary even though the city is going through difficult budget years with mounting multi-million dollar deficits.
“I hope they don’t cut that because if you don’t maintain the pier now, down the road you’ll have millions of worth of damages,” Sullivan said.
Santa Monica City Councilman Ken Genser said its necessary the city continue to ensure its infrastructure is maintained.
“The pier requires constant maintenance,” he said. “It’s just something that takes a lot of attention and an on-going effort.”
During construction, officials will assess how many more of the pylons need to be repaired and how much more maintenance will be needed, Richter said.
“It would be done in phases so that no one section of the pier would ever be closed or access across the pier would ever be closed,” Richter said. “We’re looking at a sequenced four-year program of varying pylon replacement based on the area that is being worked on.”
Instead of replacing the wooden pylons with concrete or metal braces, city officials have decided to go with wood, which is both cheaper and easier to install — especially since the rest of the support network is already made of wood.
“And concrete has its other problems,” said Sullivan. “Because sea water is very corrosive, it can seep into the concrete and soak the re-bar making it rust.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 3, 2003. Read the original PDF.