Carmageddon: First phase of Highway 1 redevelopment complete; next phases likely to carry into 2030s

The opening last week of the “Whale Bridge” at Chanticleer Avenue over Highway 1 in Live Oak signified the completion of the first of three phases of the major Highway 1 expansion project between Soquel Drive and Freedom Boulevard, but years of construction still remain.

The $164 million project includes new auxiliary lanes — lanes that connect highway on- and off-ramps, allowing vehicles more space to merge. Some of those auxiliary lanes will also do double duty as bus-on-shoulder lanes, which allow buses to use the auxiliary lanes to bypass traffic.

Sarah Christensen, executive director of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, said the pedestrian bridge is open for public use, but that there will be a ribbon-cutting ceremony on July 30 at 5:30 p.m. to formally recognize the opening.

There is still much to do on Highway 1, which will likely take the project into 2030 or beyond, said Christensen.

Phase 2 of the project, between Bay Avenue/Porter Street in Capitola/Soquel and State Park Drive in Aptos, has been in progress since last spring, and is currently slated to be finished at the end of next year. That phase includes the redevelopment of the overcrossing at Capitola Avenue, which has been closed since last March and will likely remain so until November. It will also introduce a new overcrossing at Mar Vista Drive southeast of Cabrillo College.

Phase 3, which runs from State Park Drive to Freedom Boulevard, is still over a year out from groundbreaking, as the RTC is in the final design stage, said Christensen. It involves replacing the railroad bridges between the State Park Drive and Rio del Mar Boulevard interchanges, as well as widening the Aptos Creek Bridge for pedestrian/bicycle accommodations. The RTC tentatively hopes to break ground in 2027.

Although the final phase was deemed fully funded following a $128.7 million state grant that the RTC received in late June, there is ongoing litigation that could affect the timeline.

Local transit advocacy group Campaign for Sustainable Transportation and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit last March against state agency Caltrans contesting the final phase, suing on the adequacy of its environmental study. Rick Longinotti, chair of the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation, previously told Lookout that the study compared the widening project with only a “no build” scenario rather than comparing it with alternatives, such as fully dedicated bus lanes on the highway. He added that alternative options are more important than spending millions on projects he does not believe will work, arguing that expanding roads because of high traffic only encourages more traffic, leading to similar levels of congestion.

Longinotti told Lookout on Friday that the case was heard in Sacramento County Superior Court in June. He said the judge hasn’t made a ruling, but that he expects one within a few weeks. 

Christensen declined to comment on the lawsuit, since the RTC doesn’t discuss ongoing litigation, but said that as of now, the suit is not slowing or halting the project. If the lawsuit is successful, it could force the agency to revise or redo parts of its environmental study.

“It’s pretty common,” she said, adding that the first phase of the project just completed faced legal challenges, too. “And it successfully moved forward, and it’s built today. So, I see it as a part of the process of delivering projects.”

Longinotti said that whether the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation wins or loses, he expects that it will continue to discuss alternatives with the RTC.

“We’ll ask if they think it’s a good idea to go ahead even if there’s very little congestion relief,” he said. “Now’s the time to reconsider, let’s actually make some measurements and see if the auxiliary lanes are really helping anyone.”

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Check out our Carmageddon road project list here. This week, pay particular attention to:

• The Highway 1 off-ramps at Park Avenue in Capitola are closed as part of the Highway 1 expansion project. The southbound off-ramp is scheduled to be closed until October. The northbound off-ramp was closed in April and and is slated to stay closed until August.

• The Highway 1 on-ramp at Park Avenue is closed for five months in order for crews to reconstruct the ramp. Northbound travelers will be directed to take Soquel Drive to Porter Street to join northbound Highway 1 at the Bay Avenue/Porter on-ramp. Southbound travelers will be directed to exit Highway 1 at the Bay/Porter off-ramp, continue on Bay Avenue to arrive at Park Avenue. The ramp is expected to reopen in November.

• Shoulder work will cause an overnight closure of one lane of northbound Highway 1 Buena Vista Drive and Rob Roy/Freedom Boulevard from Monday through Friday from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m.

• Pavement work, tree work and utility work will shut down sections of Highway 236 in Boulder Creek with one-way alternating traffic controls. Those sections are between Azalea Avenue and Branson Ranch Road, Boulder Brook Drive and Park Street, and Big Basin Redwoos State Park and the park headquarters from Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

• A full closure of the Murray Street Bridge is slated run until February 2026. It will be closed for vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians. Vehicle traffic will be detoured along Soquel Avenue and Capitola Road via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Bicycles will be detoured across Arana Gulch and along Broadway via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Pedestrians will be detoured around the north harbor.

• The installation of the Newell Creek Pipeline on Graham Hill Road between Summit Avenue and Lockewood Lane will take place on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and could cause delays of up to five minutes.

• Drainage work will close down sections of Highway 9 in Felton between Lazy Woods Road and San Lorenzo Valley High School, and Rincon Creek Bridge and Henry Cowell Redwoods Vista Point from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.

• Storm damage repair will shut down sections of Eureka Canyon Road in Corralitos for several months. Work will take place only on weekdays from 7:30 a.m. through 5 p.m. beginning on Wednesday and scheduled to last through Oct. 31.

• The Soquel Drive Buffered Bike Lane project will run through Aug. 1 as crews finish installing the underground fiber optic cable for the new traffic signals along the road. There will be intermittent single-lane closures on Soquel Avenue from Seabright Avenue to La Fonda Avenue, Seabright Avenue from Water Street to Soquel Avenue, and Water Street from North Pacific Avenue to Seabright Avenue.

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