Proposed Santa Monica Causeway Project

Routing of the new freeway, which will extend northwestward from Santa Monica, California, over land fills in the ocean rather than along the beach or inland would serve several useful purposes: it would avoid costly and time-consuming right-of-way acquisition; it would preserve the existing beach and provide six miles of new beach through construction of a perched beach in lieu of a seawall; the perched beach would transport littoral sand through normal wave action; water areas behind the land fills would enhance smallcraft navigation and water-oriented recreation; and the project could be paid for by revenues derived from high-return uses of land areas created additional to the freeway right-of-way needs. The theory of the perched-beach concept is described, and methods of construction are discussed. Although more studies are required to assure the workability of such a project, the ideas presented are applicable to other coastal areas wherever the conditions are right.