Carmageddon: As RTC officially votes to terminate contract with Progressive Rail, planners hope to have interim trail design by early summer

Planners in the city and county of Santa Cruz are gearing up to draft designs for three segments of Coastal Rail Trail between the San Lorenzo River trestle in Santa Cruz and State Park Drive in Aptos as the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) officially moves to assume operational control of the rail line. 

At its Thursday meeting, the RTC voted to terminate its contract with Minnesota-based Progressive Rail, which operates the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line as the contracted common carrier. The RTC will also amend its cooperative agreements with the city and county of Santa Cruz to reflect the new plan to build 8 miles of the trail over the tracks. Only Commissioner Lowell Hurst, District 4 County Supervisor Felipe Hernandez’s alternate, voted “no,” saying he felt he did not have enough information to vote. 

Public comment was mixed on the idea, with proponents saying that Progressive Rail does not have the community’s best interests in mind and having local control of the rail line is a better position to be in. Detractors acknowledged the issues with the company, but said they worried that finding new freight operators could be challenging. They also pointed out that a new common carrier might not get approved by the Surface Transportation Board, the federal regulatory agency in charge of freight rail lines.

Although Progressive Rail has rejected the contract termination and threatened to sue, planners are already at work on a design for the three trail segments. County planner Rob Tidmore said the designs could be ready to be presented to the RTC in May or June.

Even though the current plan is to build the trail over the tracks between the San Lorenzo River trestle and State Park Drive, the commission instructed planners to find options that preserve the tracks by leaving them in place and not completely covering them.

City of Santa Cruz transportation planner Matt Starkey told Lookout that he and Tidmore have looked at a trail configuration currently being used in Humboldt County as a potential option. The design features one-way paths on both sides of the tracks, which run in the middle. Starkey said it’s a “unique and creative idea,” but it will require more in-depth research to determine whether it would work in Santa Cruz County.

“We’re not trying to dismiss what they did, but what I will say is we have a very different topography,” he said. “They’re working with a big, open expanse and we have more limited space.”

Crews need to begin construction on the three segments by June 2027, to not jeopardize a $96 million dollar state grant.

Caltrans lowering speed limits along some sections of Highway 9 

Parts of Highway 9 will soon have lower speed limits, Caltrans announced last week.

A traffic study prompted the state transit agency to lower speed limits on segments of Highway 9 in Felton, Ben Lomond and Brookdale. Sections that currently have 35 mph limits north of Brookdale and between Felton and Ben Lomond will be lowered to 30 mph, and a section in Ben Lomond with a 30 mph limit will be dropped to 25.

Enforcement of the new speed limits will begin once all the signage is updated, which is expected to be completed within 30 days.

Freedom Boulevard safety in focus at Tuesday’s Watsonville City Council meeting

Watsonville’s city council will receive a presentation Tuesday on making Freedom Boulevard safer for cyclists and pedestrians.

The main thoroughfare has high rates of pedestrian and bicycle collisions, which account for 65% of crashes resulting in death or severe injury in the city. Watsonville in total has higher-than-average rates of traffic injuries compared to other similar-sized California cities.

Public engagement showed that the majority of respondents prioritized safety over concerns about added driving time, and many want to see separated bike lanes and new, optimized traffic signals to maintain smooth traffic flow.

The city council meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at 6 p.m. at Watsonville City Hall, 275 Main St.

Latest news

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

• Tree work, pavement repair and utility work are shutting down one lane of Highway 9 between Hihn Street and San Lorenzo Valley Elementary, Fall Creek Bridge and Brackney Road, Scenic Drive and Pike Road, Hillside Avenue/Miles Street and Ben Lomond Toll Road, and Cascade Avenue and Irwin Way from Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m.

• The closure of the southbound Highway 1 off-ramp at State Park Drive in Aptos for soundwall construction is slated to run through Feb. 10. Travelers can exit at Park Avenue, make a left, then turn right onto southbound Soquel Drive, where they can rejoin State Park Drive.
  
• Emergency sewer work in Soquel Village could occasionally block access to driveways, sidewalks, on-street parking and interrupt sewer service on weekdays until June 30, on Soquel Drive, Porter Street and Main Street. Work on Soquel Drive will be overnight from 8:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Porter and Main streets. Other, shorter-duration potholing on Porter, Main and Center streets and Daubenbiss Avenue will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
  
• The Murray Street Bridge remains closed to westbound vehicle and bicycle traffic. Vehicle traffic detours are along Soquel Avenue and Capitola Road via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Bicycles are being detoured across Arana Gulch and along Broadway via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue.

• The installation of the Newell Creek Pipeline on Graham Hill Road between Summit Avenue and Lockewood Lane is taking place on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and could cause delays of up to five minutes.

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