Quick Take
Repairs continue to move forward along West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, with a hopeful October completion time – but utility relocations could stall the construction and force the city to pause the Bethany Curve culvert repair for the winter months and complete the work in the spring.
As some West Cliff Drive repairs move closer to completion, others could require a work stoppage during the winter if delays arise.
The atmospheric rivers during winter 2023 severely damaged a number of locations along Santa Cruz’s iconic coastal road, causing the full or partial closure of several sections of West Cliff Drive. Since then, the city has worked to find ways to restore as much access as possible as quickly as possible. And the city has had many discussions and hearings on both the short- and long-term fixes.
In late May, the City of Santa Cruz started construction on the Bethany Curve culvert repair. The damage to the structure has shut down the stretch of West Cliff Drive between Woodrow Avenue and Almar Avenue to vehicle traffic in both directions for over a year. Kevin Crossley, the city’s assistant director of public works, told Lookout that a new metal railing along the pedestrian path is one of the final steps in restoring access to both lanes. Crews will begin installing that railing in two to three weeks, and expect completion about two to three weeks after that.
Crossley added that in that same timeframe, the city hopes to begin repairs to a sinkhole along that same stretch of road. That requires crews to dig loose material out of the approximately 15-foot-deep hole and refill it with concrete. That sinkhole, while visible from the pedestrian path, has not impeded access or public safety.
“It’s not a very complex repair, but it is pretty big in scale,” said Crossley.
The Bethany Curve culvert repair, though, is trickier, because there are more steps involved. Crossley said crews are about three weeks away from completing work to build an ocean-facing wall for improved armoring. Then, crews will shift to the other side of the street, next to the homes lining West Cliff Drive. However, that work is contingent on Pacific Gas & Electric, with a utility pole needing to be moved. Crossley said the city has been pushing the utility company to move the pole so crews can complete the entire repair by October.
“It’s probably less than two weeks of work on [PG&E’s] side, but the issue is getting them scheduled,” he said. “We’re hoping we can get traction on that in the next week or so.”
If the city is unable to schedule PG&E to move the pole soon, said Crossley, the culvert repair completion could be pushed all the way to the spring. That is far from ideal, because working into next year could add $500,000 to the project due to temporary drainage construction and overhead for the contractor to demobilize and remobilize.
“That’s a significant amount of money and we obviously all want to avoid having to spend that,” he said.
Crossley added that the city’s fallback would be to extend work hours and schedule weekend work to prevent the project from stretching into next spring.
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