Colorado Esplanade
Architect: Peter Walker and Partners
Client: City of Santa Monica
Location: Santa Monica
Completion: 2015

The City of Santa Monica recently green-lighted construction on the $10.7 million Colorado Esplanade streetscape project, designed to improve public access to the Santa Monica Pier and provide pedestrian links from the soon-to-arrive Expo Light Rail line. Work will commence next year, and the light rail is scheduled to arrive by 2016.

Designed by Peter Walker Partners, the landscape firm behind the National September 11 Memorial, the plan turns Colorado Boulevard into a westbound-only, multi-modal thoroughfare from the downtown Santa Monica station at Fourth Street all the way to Ocean Avenue, edging the coast. A new promenade will connect the light rail station to Ocean Avenue, the Pier, and the future Palisades Garden Walk. An expansive public amphitheater stairway, called the Gateway Triangle Garden, will lead to the Expo Line’s Fourth Street Station and create a dedicated public gathering zone, named the Downtown Expo Station Plaza. The City Council had earlier rejected a xeriscape design for this zone, noting that a more welcoming public space was desired.

The plan also includes dedicated bike lanes in both directions and widens the south-side sidewalk to a generous 55 feet with decorative paving and seating. The lanes will eventually tie in to the regional network of bike paths and connect with Santa Monica’s Bike Center. Numerous trees will also be added in accordance with the city’s Urban Forest Master Plan.

According to the Santa Monica Lookout, the city has secured $9.7 million in funding, including a $3.3 million Metro grant. When legislation shut down California redevelopment agencies last February, the city had to cut the promenade budget in half.