Quick Take
It’s a new year, which means new — and ongoing — projects will bring some road delays throughout 2025 in Santa Cruz County. Here are the major projects slated to begin, and in some cases, wrap up throughout the year.
Another year, another slate of road projects are coming to Santa Cruz County. Some of those began in 2024 and have reached varying degrees of completion, while others are set to break ground in what will be a multiyear construction timeline.
Santa Cruz County has made a major push to improve its bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure over the past few years, and 2025 will be no exception. Some of these projects, like the Soquel Drive Buffered Bike Lane Project and the Green Valley Road redevelopment, are poised to wrap up by the spring, while others, like the Bay Street improvements, will launch this summer and stretch into the coming years.
Scroll down to take a look at the major projects slated for 2025 so far, including their expected start and end dates.
Murray Street Bridge retrofit
After more than two decades of planning, the retrofit and makeover of the bridge crossing the Santa Cruz Harbor is finally headed towards a March 2025 groundbreaking. The goal is to strengthen the bridge with additional pilings and an improved foundation so it can better withstand earthquakes, as well as widen sidewalks and bike lanes.
Drivers should be prepared for some road delays during the 30-month project. The city’s project webpage says the bridge might have to be closed entirely at certain periods to move equipment and set up for different stages of construction. The harbor paths running underneath the bridge will also be closed occasionally. City of Santa Cruz Public Works Director Nathan Nguyen told Lookout in December that the plan is to keep the eastbound lane open for “a majority of the project,” but there will probably be times where the bridge is closed entirely.
The $50 million dollar project is expected to be completed by fall 2027.
Highway 1 multimodal project
The Highway 1 multimodal project aims to improve public transit and car travel on the highway, as well as create safer routes for cyclists and pedestrians. It has been ongoing for a few years now, and will continue for a few years more.
The first phase of the project involves new auxiliary and bus-on-shoulder lanes between Soquel Avenue and 41st Avenue, and a new pedestrian/bicycle overcrossing at Chanticleer Avenue. The second phase has caused even longer delays and slower traffic in the area between Bay Avenue/Porter Street and State Park Drive, particularly since the Capitola Avenue overcrossing was closed starting last March. That closure has made Soquel Drive into the main detour, allowing travelers to reenter Highway 1 at the Park Avenue and Bay/Porter exits. Luckily, the Capitola Avenue overcrossing is set to reopen by early summer after being closed for 14 months.
Speaking of Bay Avenue/Porter Street, the onramp to southbound Highway 1 from that street has been closed for several months to allow crews to construct new onramps and widen the shoulder for the new bus-on-shoulder lanes. That’s expected to wrap up by the end of January, but could be delayed, as it was initially supposed to be finished by the end of November.
Bay Street improvements
Perhaps the most ambitious project alongside Murray Street is the major overhaul of Bay Street from West Cliff Drive all the way to UC Santa Cruz. Expected to last from its groundbreaking in spring 2025 through 2027, the makeover includes five stages of work, two of which begin this year.
Crews will break ground this spring, starting with the segment between Escalona Drive and Nobel Drive. It involves installing a one-way separated bike lane on each side of Bay Street, along with converting a northbound auto lane and the shoulder into a protected area that shields both cyclists and pedestrians from vehicles. That means by the end of 2025, cars heading up to UCSC will be restricted to one lane only.
Starting in the summer, the city is planning to break ground on the section running from West Cliff Drive to California Street. That part also consists of adding two-way separated bike lanes running beside La Barranca Park at Neary Lagoon, along with improving crosswalks and adding new Santa Cruz Metro boarding islands — a passenger waiting area separated from the main sidewalk by a bike lane. City of Santa Cruz Transportation Planner Claire Gallogly told Lookout in December that the work also involves removing some Metro stops to speed up transit times.
Soquel Drive buffered bike lane and congestion mitigation project
Soquel Drive has undergone a number of changes over the past year. While the construction has caused sporadic slowdowns, it should wrap up by spring 2025.
The work involves 5.6 miles of Soquel Drive from La Fonda Avenue in Santa Cruz to State Park Drive in Aptos — considered the busiest section of the road. Crews are resurfacing and restriping the road, and installing traffic signals that adapt based on real-time traffic demand at 22 intersections, as well as signals that can detect when a bus is at an intersection and prioritize green lights.
For cyclists, the project will add 2.7 miles of buffered bike lanes, with wider striping allowing more room for bikes, and 2.4 miles of protected bike lanes, which involve a physical barrier separating the cyclists from cars. For pedestrians, the project will include numerous sidewalk and crosswalk upgrades, including 100 ramps compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
That sprawling project is actually on track to finish sooner than the initial estimates, which pegged the end of 2025 for completion. County Community Development and Infrastructure spokesperson Tiffany Martinez told Lookout in December that the final touches — pavement resurfacing, painting and final concrete pours — will take place in the early spring, bringing traffic headaches on Soquel Drive to an end.
Green Valley Road makeover
Having broken ground in July 2025, Green Valley Road in Watsonville has gotten some much-needed improvements that make life easier for cyclists and pedestrians alike.
The $8.4 million project involves replacing an old dirt trail alongside about 2 miles of the roadway with a two-way multiuse trail allowing safer travel for cyclists and pedestrians on the busy stretch of road north of Freedom Boulevard and south of Monte Vista Christian School. It also includes five new Santa Cruz Metro bus stops and shelters.
While the road is heavily traveled, it is also historically unsafe. Martinez previously told Lookout that between 2017 and 2021, there were five reported bike and pedestrian collisions. California Highway Patrol data show a handful of other accidents on side streets that connect to Green Valley road, too.
In recent months, drivers have likely run into backups as they try to turn onto Green Valley Road from Amesti Road, even though the trail near there is almost finished. Typically, there are two lanes — a left- and a right-turn lane — that lead to Green Valley Road from Amesti Road. However, construction has blocked the right-turn lane, forcing all drivers heading onto Green Valley Road into a single turn lane, which has noticeably slowed down traffic on the major artery. That should come to an end soon, though, once crews wrap up striping the roadway and complete the project in the spring.
Latest news
Robert Quinn, Zach Friend’s alternate on the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, dies at 63
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) announced Friday that former commissioner Robert Quinn unexpectedly died on Dec. 22. He had served as former Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend’s alternate since January 2022. He was 63 years old.
Quinn’s last meeting was on Dec. 5, as his time on the commission had come to a close with Friend’s departure from the board of supervisors. Incoming District 2 County Supervisor Kim De Serpa will select her own alternate.
In addition to his work with RTC, Quinn was a doctor at Dominican Hospital for 30 years, and served as CEO of Dignity Health Foundation for the past four years.
“It would be hard to find someone with more grace, class and intellect than Dr. Quinn. Not only did he elevate the regional transportation discussion, but he elevated the broader discourse and civility. His loss is immense, but his legacy is even larger,” Friend said in a RTC news release.
Across his three years with the RTC, Quinn was involved with the planning and study of a number of major transportation projects spanning the entire county, like the Coastal Rail Trail, the Soquel Drive buffered bike lane project, and the Highway 1 multimodal project.
This week, pay particular attention to:
- The on-ramp to southbound Highway 1 from Bay Avenue in Capitola has been closed since late September to allow construction crews to build a new ramp. Drivers can take a detour north on Porter Street to Soquel Drive, then east to Park Avenue, where they can rejoin Highway 1. They may also head south on Bay Avenue to Park Avenue, and rejoin southbound Highway 1 there. Caltrans now expects the ramp to reopen on Jan. 31, two months later than originally scheduled.
- Paving along northbound and southbound Highway 1 between Bay Avenue and State Park Drive will cause closures of both lanes in each direction. The northbound closures will occur from 7 a.m. on Monday through 5 a.m. on Tuesday, and the southbound closure will occur from 8 p.m. Monday through 6 a.m. Tuesday. The closures will alternate between lanes, so one lane will be open in each direction at any given time.
- Paving and tree work will close down sections of Highway 9 on Monday and Thursday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between Lazy Woods Road and California Drive/Middle Road, West Vine Hill Road and Sugarloaf Road, and Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue.
- 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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