California Incline in Santa Monica set to reopen Sept. 1

The California Incline in Santa Monica is scheduled to reopen Sept. 1 — just in time for the Labor Day Weekend.

The beloved landmark — which connects the beach with the bluffs and offers exceptional coastal views — will reopen with a daylong pedestrian party after 17 months of closure.

“Our new California Incline is not only a feat of modern engineering, it’s the fruit of great human effort, sure to be with us for some time to come,” Curtis Castle, a civil engineer with the city’s Public Works Department, said in a prepared statement. “Hundreds of individuals worked on this project day and night for 17 straight months.”

The ramp — used by 15,000 vehicles daily — closed for reconstruction in April 2015. The new structure is seismically upgraded and includes a pedestrian and bike path.

The incline was last rebuilt in the 1930s.

Santa Monica officials initially worked to secure federal funds to rebuild the incline in the early 1990s, but the project was put on hold after the 1994 Northridge earthquake. In 2007, the city picked up the project again after securing $17 million in federal funding.

“We are thrilled to welcome the new safer and stronger California Incline on the 120th anniversary of the Sunset Trail,” Mayor Tony Vazquez said in a prepared statement. “This vital link between Santa Monica and PCH demonstrates what federal dollars can do to support significant local infrastructure.”

The new ramp pays homage to the old barrier rail with a streamlined modern design, which now boasts more contoured arches and pilasters. The new bridge deck sits on 96 concrete piles drilled beneath the bluff’s surface, which supports the shared bike and pedestrian path, and one lane for vehicles in both directions.

Construction crews used more than 1,000 soil nails to stabilize the bluff along the eastern edge.

The Incline originally was set to open by Memorial Day weekend, but city officials pushed the project back to reconstruct the pedestrian overpass, which proved to be structurally complex because of its unique design and required more time to complete.

Vazquez, city council members and local and state officials are scheduled to mark the bridge’s reopening with a news conference at 9 a.m. A party with light refreshments, historic photos and pedestrian access will begin at 10 a.m. and run until 2 p.m.

The incline will open to vehicle traffic at 5 p.m.

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