SeeCalifornia.com

SAN MATEO COUNTY’S Werder Pier has long claimed fame as California’s longest pier at nearly a mile long (4,055 feet). It was originally an access road, part of the old San Mateo-Hayward drawbridge which opened in 1929 as the world’s longest bridge. When the San Mateo/Hayward bridge was built above it and the old bridge became obsolete, its access road was turned into one incredibly long pier. Anyone who fishes in California knows the beauty of piers–the fishing is free off of them! And San Mateo became the best fishing pier in California between 1968 and 1996. It was closed due to a variety of conditions–sales agreement requiring pier operations ended, liability for this decaying structure, and more recently claims of 9-11 security for the bridge above it, refurbishment projects on the bridge above it, etc.

Viability studies have sought ways to obtain funding to either fix the “pier” and reopen it to the public that really wants to use it or find funding to remove it. Until that happens, the claim that this is California’s longest pier structure is somewhat meaningless. I vote to remove it from the California piers list until it re-0pens, if ever.