The City Council voted unanimously June 9 to accept a $2 million federal grant to study capping a section of the Interstate 10 freeway with parks, and directed city staff to use the same study to weigh broader options, including removing the freeway entirely.
The grant, from the U.S. Department of Transportation's Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, will fund a feasibility study of potential "cap parks" along the I-10 between 11th and 20th streets in the city's Pico Neighborhood. The award requires a local match of $505,712, which the city will cover through staff time and Park and Recreation Development Impact Fee revenues.
"It's basically a park on top of a highway," Senior Park Planner Antonio Lopez told the council, explaining a term that has drawn frequent questions. The roughly 25- to 30-acre study area covers a freeway corridor that has divided the neighborhood for decades.
City officials framed the project as an effort to repair historical harm. The freeway, built as part of the interstate system authorized in 1956, displaced more than 1,500 residents in what is now the Pico Neighborhood, severing a predominantly Black and Latino community. The Pico Neighborhood Association formed in 1979 to advocate for affected residents, and the city explored capping a portion of the freeway in 2010 before financial constraints halted the effort.
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 not be enough.
"Capping the freeway, in my opinion, would be a partial improvement, but it doesn't solve the underlying problems," Raskin said, describing it as "essentially a form of band-aid" that would leave many environmental impacts in place and reinforce a car-dependent culture. Still, he called it "a significant improvement" and said the city has "a moral imperative to repair our neighborhoods."
Raskin's motion directed staff, to the extent allowed under the grant, to examine trade-offs between capping and other alternatives — including freeway removal — and to follow the models of cities such as San Francisco and Seattle that have torn out freeways. "We need to stay focused on the long-term goal of removing the freeway and replacing it with parks, a grand boulevard, or other neighborhood-serving uses," he said.
Lopez confirmed that the federal program is aimed broadly at reconnecting communities rather than capping specifically, and said the study could assess the potential costs of capping the freeway or any portion of it.
Some council members pressed on the timeline. The study's final report is due by July 31, 2029, with the grant's budget period ending Jan. 31, 2030.
"Why does that take us four years to do that?" asked Councilmember Dan Hall, who also sought to clarify what residents could expect. Lopez said the study would not produce a final design but rather a feasibility analysis, existing-conditions research and prioritized locations for potential cap parks. He likened it to "basically a design project without ... a design," citing the complexity of a site that involves transit, structural and utility considerations.
Council members emphasized that residents most affected by the freeway should guide the process. Councilmember Caroline Torosis asked staff to ensure that the Pico Neighborhood Association, current residents and people displaced by the freeway are "engaged and centered" in community outreach. Lopez agreed, saying outreach is planned for every phase and would begin before any designs are drafted.
Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya asked how the city would reach those most affected by what she called "the dissection of this neighborhood" by the freeway. Lopez said staff intends to consult the community on how the outreach itself should be conducted.
The council received at least one written comment in support. Planning Commissioner Jacob Wasserman, writing in a personal capacity as both a driver and a pedestrian, urged the council to study ways to reconnect communities across the 10 and expressed hope the effort could withstand federal attempts to roll back the Reconnecting Communities program.
The motion, seconded by Councilmember Barry Snell, passed with one member, Mayor Pro Tem Jesse Zwick, absent. Staff said the city is awaiting a final grant agreement from Caltrans and expects to issue a request for proposals to hire a consultant, with work anticipated to begin in spring 2027.
As the item closed, Torosis pressed staff to move quickly. "If there's any way to do it quicker than 2030, we would love that," she said.