Quick Take
West Cliff Drive repairs have run into a few weather delays, but the City of Santa Cruz is staying on course to reopen the closed stretch of road between Columbia Street and Woodrow Avenue later this spring, and finally break ground on the Bethany Curve culvert repair in May.
The City of Santa Cruz has had West Cliff Drive in its focus for many years, but since the winter storm deluge of early 2023, that focus has become even stronger.
Santa Cruzans saw jarring changes along the scenic road that have remained in place ever since. The city installed a temporary one-way between Columbia Street and Woodrow Avenue due to damaged cliffs crumbling under the pedestrian path. Just west, a culvert failure has rendered the stretch between Woodrow Avenue and Almar Avenue inaccessible for cars. It will likely remain that way until sometime in the fall.
So far in 2024, the coastal road has mostly escaped more significant damage, despite an intense windstorm in early February. However, a new, gradually eroding section of pedestrian path surfaced across from Lighthouse Field, which the city has monitored for over a year.
And even with no serious damage to the ongoing repairs, the stretch from Columbia Street to Woodrow Avenue is still not open to automobile traffic going west and pedestrians and bikers going east – despite the city’s mid-to-late February target. Kevin Crossley, assistant director of the City of Santa Cruz Public Works department, said that February and March have brought more rain than crews would have liked, which has hindered some progress.
“It’s frustrating because one day of rain will cause something like four days of delays,” he said.
However, the city continues to push forward. Crews have nearly finished the infill walls and cliff armoring, and will soon move toward installing a curb and gutter and the final step of paving the street. Crossley said that as of now, crews hope to complete paving by the end of March and reopen that stretch of West Cliff Drive to cars soon after.
Crossley added that a sinkhole has opened up adjacent to the work site between Columbia Street and Woodrow Avenue. Though that might sound dramatic, he said sinkholes have happened along West Cliff before, and this one will not require a major response.
“If there are any lingering closures it’s not going to be nearly as extensive as what people see now,” he said. “It would be something like 20 feet of sidewalk.”
The city is heading toward groundbreaking for the Bethany Curve culvert repair, too. Crossley said design is nearly complete and the city is hoping to start work there in May. The expected reopening of the fully closed stretch between Woodrow Avenue and Almar Avenue remains fall or winter.
The city is still figuring out funding for some of the other areas of concern. The damaged storm drain by Auburn Avenue is still “a bit up in the air,” said Crossley, adding that public works is going to submit projects to the California Office of Emergency Services in April. He expects to hear back by the end of April or early May regarding whether the agency will approve funding for the fix.
Then there is the erosion opposite Lighthouse Field, which the city initially thought was a State Parks property and not the city’s responsibility. As it turns out, it might be the city’s property after all: “From our perspective, that may be a good thing because it cleans up the lead agency question,” said Crossley, referring to the jurisdictional struggles that often happen when multiple agencies are involved in a project.
However, he said that site — which the city has blocked off with temporary orange barriers — will take a backseat for now. The area is stabilized, and reopening the one-way and breaking ground on the Bethany Curve culvert project are much more important at this time.
“We’re still monitoring it for the time being, but realistically, that’s a 2025 project,” said Crossley, adding that it could offer a compelling case study for managed retreat — the voluntary relocation of community infrastructure away from coastlines and other environmentally sensitive areas. “That’s an area where we can at least explore what a road realignment could look like.”
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
From Saturday at 7 p.m. through Sunday at 7 p.m., travelers will encounter a full closure of Highway 1 between the Bay Avenue/Porter Street and Park Avenue exits. Demolition crews will use this 24-hour closure to safely demolish the Capitola Avenue overcrossing and haul materials away.
The on-ramp heading onto southbound Highway 1 from southbound Soquel Drive will be shut down for bridge work between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. from Tuesday through Thursday.
The Pure Water Soquel water purification project continues to move forward, and its current work will affect parts of Laurel Street in Santa Cruz. The installation of an architectural cover for the piping along the Laurel Street bridge will continue this week between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., shutting down one lane of eastbound Laurel Street.
The Soquel Buffered Bike Lane and Congestion Mitigation Project is moving forward, and crews are digging into multiple sections of Soquel Drive to prepare for the installation of fiber optic cables used to operate the adaptive transit signals. Drivers should expect partial closures of some lanes and mild to moderate traffic slowdowns.
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