Traffic on and around PCH can be bad enough, and it looks to get worse in the year ahead as the city closes the 85-year old California Incline on Monday.Although there is officially still one more day for drivers to take the old roadway—technically a bridge—City News Service reports signs have already gone up in anticipation of the closure, declaring "ROAD CLOSED" and "NO LEFT TURN." The California Incline was built in 1930, connecting Ocean and California Avenues at the top of the coastal bluffs with Pacific Coast Highway down below, and hasn't been seismically retrofitted since. Curbed L.A. dug up some very cool old photos.
Caltrans and the city of Santa Monica will be spending the next 13 months and about $20 million dollars to demolish the old road and build a new bridge on the same route, according to KTLA. The cost will be mainly covered by federal funds. The new Incline will also feature wide sidewalks and bike lanes.
The Incline is used by at least 13,000 cars every day, and locals are dreading the traffic the project will exacerbate. "We're all very scared out here. There is a potential for horrific commutes morning and afternoon," Malibu Councilwoman Laura Rosenthal told the L.A. Times. Residents in tony neighborhoods as Malibu and Pacific Palisades aren't looking forward to commuters looking for alternate routes. "When Santa Monica sneezes, we get pneumonia," said a neighborhood leader in Santa Monica Canyon.
Drivers that want to go north on PCH will be rerouted onto Lincoln Boulevard and onto the 10 to merge with PCH through the McClure Tunnel. Southbound PCH drivers will have to exit onto Moomat Ahiko Way to get into downtown Santa Monica.
