Carmageddon: Capitola Avenue bridge completion pushed to November

Those with daily commutes through the middle of Santa Cruz County have likely gotten used to being patient over the past year or more. Unfortunately, they’ll have to keep that patience up for longer than initially thought.

The Highway 1 overcrossing at Capitola Avenue, which has been shut down since last March, is now expected to be finished in November, rather than the early summer, which was the hopeful completion date when the project first began.

The bridge is part of the ongoing Highway 1 expansion project, which includes adding new lanes that give motorists more space to merge at exit and entrance ramps and also serve as dedicated bus-on-shoulder lanes in some places, allowing buses to bypass traffic. The expansion project also includes adding new bicycle and pedestrian overcrossings. 

While overcrossing at Chanticleer Avenue, farther north on Highway 1 is nearing completion, the work solely involved building a new structure, while the Capitola Avenue project required demolishing the existing bridge and constructing a new one. Once completed, it will have new bike lanes and sidewalks that aim to promote active transportation — a goal reflected in many transportation projects across the county.

Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) spokesperson Shannon Munz said crews have finished the falsework — temporary structures used to support the permanent bridge until the project is far along enough to support itself — and have moved onto actually constructing the bridge over the highway.

Kevin Drabinski, spokesperson for Caltrans, which is partnering with the RTC on the project, said the completion date has been pushed back to November because the demolition and pre-construction work is taking longer than expected.

“After the demolition of the old bridge, we did the support columns and retaining walls to support the wider roadway,” he said. “That took about a year.”

Drabinski said that while all of that was underway, work on the rest of the bridge was largely put on hold. However, now that it has wrapped up, crews will begin pouring the concrete deck of the overcrossing to form the new, wider bridge. He said that is expected to happen by the end of June.

“It will need to sit and cure for about three weeks,” he said, adding that after it’s set, work to install electricity utilities, reconnect a water line that ran under the previous bridge and install guardrails will be some of the final steps. “That should take us into November.”

In the meantime, drivers will be able to detour via the Bay Avenue/Porter Street exit just west of the Capitola Avenue bridge, but to the east, the on- and off-ramps at Park Avenue are closed into the fall.

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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 closed for a projected six months starting April 17. The northbound off-ramp was closed April 7 and will stay closed for a projected four months.

• The installation of a water treatment plant pipeline will take place in Soquel, along Soquel Drive between Cunnison Lane and Cinnamon Street 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.

• There will be a closure of one lane on both southbound and northbound Highway 17 due to landscaping work. The southbound closure will run between Idylwild Road and Redwood Estates, while the northbound closure will run from Redwood Estates to Alma Bridge Road in Los Gatos. The southbound closure will take place between 9 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. on Monday through Thursday. The northbound closure will happen in the same time frame and days the following week.

• The AIDS/LifeCycle bicycle ride will pass through the county on Sunday and Monday, causing possible brief intermittent closures in the Capitola, Aptos and Watsonville areas. The areas where closures may occur are McGregor Drive, Seacliff Drive, Searidge Road, State Park Drive, Center Avenue, Rio Del Mar Boulevard, Sumner Avenue, Seascape Boulevard, San Andreas Road, West Beach Street and Lee Road.

• 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.

• 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, utility work and slope repair will close down sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between Irwin Way and Cresta Drive, Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue and Spring Creek Road and Pleasant Way/Madrona Road.

• 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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