Carmageddon: A difficult section of Coastal Rail Trail has finally opened in Santa Cruz

It took longer than expected — a lot longer — but a short segment of Coastal Rail Trail in the city of Santa Cruz is finally complete after numerous delays over nearly two years. 

That stretch, which runs from the intersection of California Street and Bay Street on the Westside to the roundabout by the Santa Cruz Municipal Wharf, is only 0.8 miles long, but acts as the final link between Natural Bridges State Beach and the roundabout by the wharf. It connects with its Phase 1 counterpart, running from Natural Bridges to the intersection of California and Bay, which has been fully functional since December 2020.

Known as Segment 7, Phase 2, this section of the trail ran into a number of weather-related setbacks, significantly delaying its initial estimated completion date of summer 2023.

City transportation manager Matt Starkey said that the only thing left to do for the segment is to officially cut the ribbon, which the city will do on Wednesday.

“I think Phase 2 really starts to show the vision for how this progresses, which I’m really excited about,” he said.

Starkey said the area underneath the West Cliff Drive trestle bridge that runs over the trail was a particularly challenging section of the project due to excess groundwater in the soil, which forced the city to revise its design and add new retaining walls that work to keep groundwater out of the trail area and restrain the soil above the trail.

Starkey added that crews had to carefully work around the many gas, electricity and water utilities in the area. There are also large storm drains that are underground in the project area that go out to Cowell Beach, which crews also had to work around, causing some delays.

“There are a lot of critical utilities that serve both the wastewater treatment plant and help with water control from Neary Lagoon out to Cowell,” he said. “So we had to work around those constraints.”

Now that the short, but complicated trail section is complete, Starkey is looking ahead to Segments 8 and 9, which will run from the wharf to 17th Avenue in Live Oak. However, crews are still a ways out from potentially breaking ground. Starkey said that while environmental work is done for the sections, the city is still in design phases for both. Segment 8 is at 60% design, which means the vision is there, but the city is still ironing out details. Segment 9 is approaching the same stage of design. Segment 8 starts at the wharf and runs to the San Lorenzo River trestle, while Segment 9 goes from the San Lorenzo River trestle to 17th Avenue.

Groundbreaking for Segment 8 could be as early as a year from now, Starkey said, while Segment 9 could break ground in two years: “But things could go longer, and we’re still working on securing some funding.”

And while Starkey said there is no immediate sign that the city will lose federal funding for the projects, it is something planners are watching closely with “measured concern.”

“We’re not on fire over here, but it’s something that everyone countrywide is thinking about as we’re dealing with these projects,” he said. “Right now, we don’t anticipate it impacting the project delivery.”

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

• The Highway 1 off-ramps at Park Avenue will be closed for months as part of the Highway 1 expansion project. The southbound off-ramp will be closed for six months starting April 17. The northbound off-ramp was closed April 7 and will stay closed for four months.

• The installation of a water treatment plant pipeline will take place along Soquel Drive between Cunnison Lane and Cinnamon Street in Soquel from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and on Cunnision Lane from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays. The closures will move between lanes and will last until early July.

• The two rightmost lanes on southbound Highway 1 between Soquel Drive and Bay Avenue/Porter Street will be closed overnight on Sunday and Monday from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. At the same time, there will be alternating closures of the 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive off-ramps.

• The installation of the Newell Creek Pipeline on Graham Hill Road between Summit Avenue and Lockewood Lane will take place on weekdays from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and could cause delays of up to five minutes.

• A sewer rehabilitation project will shut down Middlefield Drive between Seacliff Drive and Oakdale Drive in Aptos from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Cedar Street between the same two streets in Aptos will be closed from Tuesday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., and Seacliff Drive near Maple Street in Aptos will be closed from Friday through Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Residents will still be able to access the roads.

• There will be overnight single-lane closures of Soquel Drive between La Fonda Avenue and State Park Drive from Tuesday through July 1 for repaving and striping along the road. The closures will take place between 7:30 p.m. and 5:30 a.m. from Sundays through Thursdays.

• Tree work, drainage work and utility work will close down sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between Lazy Woods Road and California Drive/Middle Road, El Solyo Heights Drive and California Drive/Middle Road, Henry Cowell Redwoods Vista Point and Glengarry Road, Arboleda Way and Scenic Drive, and Pike Road and River Street.

• In Watsonville, a single lane on Green Valley Road from Holohan Road to Casserly Road is closed for the Multi-Use Trail Improvement Project. Lane closures occur from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Additionally, a single lane is closed on Buena Vista Drive and Ranport Road for overhead tree trimming on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., causing potential delays.

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