Quick Take
The start to a safer Bay Street corridor is getting off the ground on Santa Cruz's Westside in 2025, with two sections beginning the work to introduce new bike lanes and transit infrastructure to the major corridor. There will be two open houses in January, where curious residents can learn more about the multiyear effort.
Among the many Santa Cruz County transportation projects aimed at improving biking, walking and public transit options for residents, the Bay Street corridor is undergoing one of the widest-ranging makeovers over the next several years.
The project spans the length of Bay Street from the main entrance to UC Santa Cruz all the way to West Cliff Drive by the Dream Inn, and involves expanding bike paths, consolidating bus stops and removing auto lanes in some areas. It is split up into five stages that will continue through 2027. Two of those stages will begin next 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.
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 added that the work also involves removing some Metro stops to speed up transit times.
Metro’s data shows that some stops are used much more than others, Gallogly said. The goal of removing a stop that is near another one is to cut down the number of stops a bus driver has to make on any given trip, and to be able to bring more passengers aboard with each stop. Those consolidations will occur across the entire project area, but it is not yet clear how many stops might be removed.
Two more phases — stretches from Mission Street to Escalona Drive and Nobel Drive to High Street — will start in summer 2026. The former will introduce another two-way separated bike lane adjacent to Bay View Elementary School to make it safer for students who are biking to and from school, and the latter will involve a one-way separated bike lane heading up to UC Santa Cruz.
The final phase, split into two parts, runs from California Street to Mission Street and essentially connects the rest of the work along the corridor. Those will likely not break ground until either 2026 or 2027.
City of Santa Cruz Public Works Director Nathan Nguyen said the city will host an open house on the project in late January, focusing on the various phases of construction. He said that while the entire project includes “exciting improvements” to the Bay Street corridor, collaborating with Caltrans to build a bike path and pedestrian improvements on the section that crosses Mission Street will be a huge effort. Mission Street is a part of the state highway system, as it is essentially the stretch of Highway 1 that runs through the city, so it falls under the jurisdiction of Caltrans.
The city views improving bike and pedestrian infrastructure across Mission Street as a major priority. “The Mission/Bay intersection is the most critical piece of that,” said Nguyen. “We have already been in talks with our colleagues over at Caltrans and are optimistic that we’ll be able to get these improvements done through phases hopefully in 2027.”
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. 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.
- Curb and gutter work will shut down the right shoulder of northbound Highway 1 between 41st Avenue and Soquel Drive all day on Monday and Tuesday.
- 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 lower Glen Arbor Road, lower Glen Arbor Road and California Drive/Middle Road, and Henry Cowell Vista Point and San 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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