As Murray Street Bridge traffic snarls Seabright, Engfer Pizza Works hands out slices to stuck drivers

The closure of the Murray Street Bridge last June turned the nearby Seabright neighborhood in Santa Cruz into a shell of its former self, as cars were rerouted over a mile away to Soquel Avenue to avoid the bridge. Sales plummeted at nearby businesses that relied on the daily passing of nearly 17,000 cars to stop for a coffee, dinner, six-pack or pet food on their way home. 

The thoroughfare roared back to life on March 2 when two-way traffic over the bridge resumed for the first time in nine months via an automatic one-way light on each end of the bridge — and surged into gridlock. Cars were bumper to bumper for up to half a mile in all directions this past week, according to anecdotes emailed to Lookout and shared on social media. 

But where some saw a sea of cars, Liz Engfer, owner of Engfer Pizza Works, saw a marketing opportunity. Last Wednesday, she baked up a couple of pizzas in the restaurant’s wood-fired oven — half pepperoni, half cheese — and asked her employees Jackson Catalano and Bronwyn Eyre to pass out samples to drivers waiting in their cars. 

“Liz told us to pass out some samples, since everybody was stuck anyway,” said Catalano. It was a hit. “Nobody likes being stuck in traffic, so people were pretty into the idea of free food, especially pizza.” It took him and Eyre around an hour to hand out two pizzas because traffic inched past so slowly. 

Engfer Pizza Works is a beloved neighborhood spot known for its beautifully tiled wood-fired pizza oven, unusual yet tasty combinations (such as pineapple and garlic, and broccoli, cashews and olives) as well as a wall-to-wall beverage fridge stocked with craft beer, local wine and nonalcoholic drinks, ping-pong tables and weekly trivia nights. The restaurant is also one of the few woman-owned pizza joints in Santa Cruz County. Liz Engfer, who purchased the pizza parlor in 2000, is one of the only female pizza-makers. 

Sales have been down and unpredictable since the bridge closed in June 2025, said Engfer. She has handed out samples to cars stuck in traffic in the past, and on Wednesday decided to revive the guerilla marketing. 

Catalano and Eyre recorded their effort and posted a short video to Reddit and Instagram on Thursday. It drew support from community members who have watched Seabright businesses struggle over the past few months and appreciated the lemonade-into-lemons opportunity. “This is great and so is their pizza!” wrote one commenter. 

Others shared their experiences of being stuck in that traffic, and eventually turning around and choosing other routes after not moving for 10 minutes or more. “​​The situation has actually gotten much, much worse. Now you can’t even get to the businesses on either side of the bridge,” wrote one person. 

Catalano also works at Java Junction, a nearby coffee shop that has been hit hard by the bridge closure, and said he saw cars pile up throughout the day after the one-way light was installed. “I’ve seen it from 6 a.m. all the way to 10 p.m. During the morning, it’s pretty chill. It reminds me of how it used to be on Seabright,” said Catalano. “From 2 p.m. onward, it’s backed up almost to Broadway Avenue, and then on Murray Street, someone told me it went down to Ocean Street.” 

The city originally planned to open the bridge to eastbound traffic only, and warned in a media release at the end of February that increased congestion on nearby streets could occur if the bridge opened to one-lane, two-way traffic. Local groups eager to improve access to the area pushed for the city to open it both ways. 

The current alternating two-way traffic pattern is a pilot to see whether it improves local access during construction, a city representative told Lookout. “As anticipated, the pilot has resulted in travel delays,” they said. The city is watching to see how the system functions, and public safety is the top priority. “The project team has also been adjusting traffic signal timing to help improve traffic flow, and we will continue monitoring conditions,” they said. 

People are slowly adjusting after “endless honking” the first few days, said Catalano. On Sunday at Java Junction, he heard people complaining about the eastbound-only traffic pattern. “But as soon as it opened to both ways, they were complaining it was two ways, so you can’t make everybody happy,” he said. 

The traffic might have the unintended consequence of driving people away as they try to avoid getting stuck, but eventually he believes having more people in the area will be helpful for nearby businesses. 

Engfer hasn’t seen an increase in business yet. She joked that as long as people are sitting in their car, they might as well order pizza for dinner: “Just chill out, call in an order if you’re several blocks away and we’ll meet you at the curb.” 

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