Carmageddon: County’s first Week Without Driving kicks off next Monday

As Santa Cruz County goes full speed ahead on building walking and cycling trails throughout the entire region, it is encouraging its residents to get on their bikes, feet and public transportation to put the changes to good use. Next Monday, Sept. 29, the county will kick off its first Week Without Driving event, a weeklong challenge for residents to explore all the ways to get around without a car. 

The campaign aims to show locals the benefits of making changes, big or small, to their daily transportation choices: reduced air pollution and carbon emissions, better health through biking, walking and other active means of transportation, saving money on gas and parking, and connecting with others through public transit.

County Community Development and Infrastructure spokesperson Tiffany Martinez said that the weeklong challenge also allows residents to provide feedback on how the local biking and walking infrastructure is working, and how it might fall short.

“Our goal is to have people consider alternate commutes and understand our local infrastructure, and maybe ways that we can improve so that the community can feel safe while walking, biking, and traveling,” she said.

There will be a number of promotions and events throughout next week. 

Next Monday, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission will host a webinar on its hazard report tool, a way for people to report dangerous road defects, like potholes or blocked sidewalks. Join the webinar here. 

The official kickoff event, hosted by the Santa Cruz County Community Traffic Safety Coalition, Santa Cruz Metro and the county’s Community Development and Infrastructure department, will be Tuesday, Sept. 30, at 11 a.m. at the Capitola Mall. It will have local transportation organizations, transit experts and accessible transportation advocates, along with food trucks and informational booths from county agencies, cycling groups and accessibility advocates. Attendees will be able to connect with local planners and officials to discuss road safety during the week, and participate in raffles and games.

On Wednesday, Oct. 1, Metro will offer free fares to encourage the use of public transit, as well as a way to support California Clean Air Day. Meanwhile, Go Santa Cruz County is holding its own promotion. Sign up here and log your trips each day for a chance to win prizes in the organization’s raffle.

The county has worked on a myriad of projects in the past few years to get more people out of cars. The Highway 1 expansion project is moving forward as its first phase has wrapped up, and the new “Whale Bridge” overcrossing at Chanticleer Avenue in Live Oak is open for public use. Soquel Drive is undergoing big changes with new bike lanes, sidewalks and stoplights, among other components. Meanwhile, Santa Cruz Metro is in the midst of an overhaul of its own, including a new fleet of zero-emission, hydrogen fuel cell buses and faster, more frequent service, which is expected to be fully implemented by this fall. 

South County road improvements continue with completion of repaving on an agricultural road

Work on repaving a major agricultural road in South County also wrapped up earlier this month, with the county officially marking the completion of the project last Thursday.

The road, Murphy Crossing Road in unincorporated Watsonville, serves as a major artery for farmworkers to transport produce and other agricultural goods, with more than 1,700 vehicles using the road daily, according to Martinez. Crews reconstructed just over a half-mile of the road using a method of recycling the pavement by grinding up the old road surface and mixing the material with stronger binding substances like cement or asphalt to make a new foundation.

“It’s not only cost-effective, it’s safe,” said Martinez. “It saves us truck trips from removing material from the site and eliminates the need to import new raw materials.”

The project, which cost about $750,000, began in late June; Martinez said that local farms and property owners had informed the county of the road’s poor condition for some time, and coordinated with the county throughout the process.

“We’ve heard for a very long time that this roadway was in disrepair, so we are responding to all of that, and are happy to finally complete this long-awaited project,” she said.

Latest news

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

• Roadway improvements will shut down one lane of Highway 9 between Willow Brook Drive and the northern junction of Highway 236 starting on Monday and lasting through May 20, 2026. Work hours will be between 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays. 

• Pavement, guardrail and erosion control work will shut down about 1 mile of Upper East Zayante Road on weekdays through early November between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The road will open up between noon and 12:30 p.m. each day to let traffic pass.

• 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 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.

• A full closure of the Murray Street Bridge will run until February 2026. It will be closed to 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.

• Utility work and tree work close down sections of Highway 9 between Riverdale Park and Monaco Lane, Pleasant Way/Madrona Road and Pool Drive, Arboleda Way/Highland and Hillside Avenue/Miles Street from Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

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

• Roadwork on northbound and southbound Main Street between 5th Street and East Lake Avenue in Watsonville will cause intermittent closures of one lane in each direction. Sidewalks within the work zone will be closed, and pedestrians and cyclists can use the crosswalks outside the construction area.

• There will be a number of closures on Highway 17 throughout the week. From Monday to Friday, one southbound lane between Glenwood Cutoff to West Vine Hill Road will be closed for emergency work from 7 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. On Monday, one southbound lane will be closed overnight from Los Gatos through Summit Road for sweeping from 9 p.m. to 4 a.m. On Tuesday, one southbound lane will be closed overnight from West Vine Hill Road to Santas Village Road from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m. On Wednesday and Thursday, one lane each way will be closed overnight from West Vine Hill Road to Sugarloaf Road for tree work from 10 p.m. to 4 a.m.

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