Quick Take
After six pedestrian accidents since 2017, some Capitola residents are demanding immediate safety fixes on Bay Avenue as city officials work toward a $5 million plan to build roundabouts.
Dorothy Anton, 82, watches vehicles almost hit people every day near her home at Bay Avenue Senior Apartments in Capitola. She frequently walks her dog, a Havanese mix named Daisy, across the busy street and says she can’t wait years for the city’s long-planned safety improvements to the corridor.
A major accident last month only heightened her concerns. In July, a car struck and seriously injured a man in the crosswalk of Bay and Capitola avenues — at least the sixth pedestrian hurt or killed in the area since 2017.
The stretch of Bay Avenue has long been a problem, officials acknowledge. But the city has traditionally resisted adding traffic signals to the street, favoring stop signs to maintain the area’s small-town charm.
Recent temporary safety improvements triggered a flood of complaints about traffic. Meanwhile, Capitola’s long-term plans to add roundabouts to two intersections along Bay Avenue are still under discussion until at least late September or October, with no expected completion date.
That leaves residents like Anton wanting faster action on making the intersection of Bay and Capitola Avenue safer for pedestrians.
“I know there are long-term plans but those are years out, but we need something before another person gets hit by a car. When I cross that street I feel like I am playing Russian roulette,” Anton told the city council during a meeting late last month. “We would really appreciate anything you can do right now.”
The push for safety improvements along Bay Avenue gained urgency in recent years after Anton’s neighbor, 70-year-old Debra Towne, was killed in a hit-and-run while walking her dog near Bay Avenue and Crossroads Loop, by Nob Hill Foods, in November 2023.
After Towne’s death, the city installed short-term fixes, including flashing stop signs and pole reflectors at the intersection. Crews removed one lane each way on Bay Avenue and added pedestrian striping in the summer of 2024 for safer crossings.
But huge traffic snarls forced the city to backtrack on some of the temporary improvements, voting last November to return most of the stretch of Bay Avenue to two lanes in each direction and reduce some of the bollards separating bike lanes from the road. Then in February the council reversed itself, deciding to keep the “quick build” until long-term plans for the area are in place.
The road still narrows to one lane of cross-traffic before the Hill Street intersection, which residents say has only encouraged drivers to swerve into the Nob Hill parking lot to save a few minutes or merge dangerously as the lanes narrow, making the intersection even less safe for pedestrians and cyclists.
“It’s crazy,” Ron Nolan, a local resident, told the recent Capitola City Council meeting. “If the whole idea was to slow the traffic, you’re doing that. It’s backed up all the way to the [Highway 1] off-ramp.”
The closure of the Capitola Avenue bridge has only added to the frustrations. The bridge closure has funneled more Capitola-bound traffic onto Bay Avenue.
There are traffic-calming measures the city could take right now to improve the intersection “in the very short term,” Anton said. Capitola Avenue intersects Bay Avenue at a slight angle, making it difficult for cars to see and the crosswalks especially long to cross, she said.
Anton said the city should consider adding more police patrols to the intersection and installing buckets on either side of the crosswalks that hold red flags attached to sticks that pedestrians can carry to make themselves more visible as they navigate the long crosswalks.
Mayor Joe Clarke said he agreed with both ideas: “What we need to work on is to educate people. We can’t control how people drive, but maybe we can help correct them with some enforcement.”
Since the meeting, Anton has noticed an increased police presence at the intersection. Clarke also told her the city would look into adding more street lighting and consider her red-flag bucket idea.
The City of Capitola is seeking community feedback about what the design of the road will look like before more definite plans for long-term safety improvements are drawn up in 2026, according to Capitola Public Works Director Jessica Kahn.
Councilmember Susan Westman asked staff to gather more facts about the Bay Avenue corridor before the council narrows down what the final plan for the road will look like in late September or early October.
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