Quick Take
A reader told Lookout they had not seen a bus on Highway 1 in Santa Cruz County for as long as they can remember, so why, they ask, do we need bus-on-shoulder lanes?
As the long-planned Highway 1 expansion project moves forward and the future form of the major artery slowly becomes a reality, some might find it difficult to imagine a Santa Cruz Metro bus on the highway at all. In fact, it’s possible that you’ve lived here for many years and can’t recall ever seeing a bus on the highway.
Brent Ruhne said that in his 44 years of living in Santa Cruz, he cannot remember ever seeing a bus on Highway 1. So he asks: Why do we need bus-on-shoulder lanes on the highway if there are few to no buses on the highway?
That’s in fact the problem. Buses can’t use the road to get riders to their destinations efficiently.
Highway 1’s current configuration drives congestion and significant delays for all vehicles, individual cars and Metro options alike. Since there are no dedicated lanes for buses on the road, Metro vehicles battle heavy traffic while staying on schedule and often will not use the highway.
What then will bus-on-shoulder look like? As widening of the road between 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive continues over the next year, Metro will soon be able to exclusively use some segments of the new auxiliary lanes — additional lanes that connect highway on- and off-ramps, allowing vehicles more space to merge — to bypass traffic on that stretch of Highway 1. Cars will not be able to use the auxiliary lanes in these sections.
(Via CDM Smith)
These will be the first bus-on-shoulder lanes on Highway 1, but another set of the same kind of lanes between the Bay Avenue/Porter Street and State Park Drive exits is headed toward groundbreaking in early 2024.
However, there has been concern that the lanes will not sufficiently expedite bus travel, because the lanes will not be fully dedicated to Metro vehicles. Only time will tell how much the new lanes will improve Metro operations.
What’s your road and transportation question? Ask us at news@lookoutlocal.com, subject line “Carmageddon.”
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
Monday commuters can expect intermittent traffic breaks on Highway 1 between Soquel Drive and 41st Avenue from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. The breaks provide safety as crews with trucks and heavy machinery begin installing the roadway section of the northbound bus lane. Delays should last up to five minutes.
A sewer replacement project on Portola Drive has rendered the Eastside road fully closed between 17th Avenue and 20th Avenue since Oct. 30. Since then, commuters have used nearby roads like Brommer Street to access 41st Avenue, and residents along the street have been parking on side streets while the road is closed. That project is set to wrap up Monday, and that section of Portola Drive will be reopened to drivers Tuesday.
West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz remains closed to all drivers between Columbia Street and Woodrow Avenue as Granite Construction crews continue to install concrete for infill walls along the bluff. The City of Santa Cruz still expects to fully reopen that stretch of the scenic coastal road no later than mid-January. The portion of West Cliff Drive between Woodrow Avenue and Almar Avenue will stay closed until fall 2024, when the city expects to complete the Bethany Curve culvert repair.
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