Quick Take
The Capitola City Council moved forward with safety improvements on Bay Avenue between Capitola and Soquel, including lighting and an additional crosswalk, but stopped short of exploring roundabouts at Bay's intersections with Hill Street and Capitola Avenue.
A plan for safety improvements along a troublesome corridor in Capitola is moving forward, but it won’t include all of the proposed changes.
The Capitola City Council approved a plan for improvements that includes better lighting at the intersections of Bay Avenue with Hill Street and Capitola Avenue, a new crosswalk at Bay Avenue and Center Street and more. However, the five-member council did not move forward with exploring plans for roundabouts at the Bay Avenue-Hill Street and Bay Avenue-Capitola Avenue intersections.
The motion from Councilmember Susan Westman passed unanimously, with Councilmember Gerry Jensen recusing himself because he lives near the project area. Councilmember Melinda Orbach hesitated before casting an affirmative vote – she originally had offered a motion that included beginning design and engineering plans for a roundabout at Bay and Capitola avenues. That motion did not receive a second.
The Bay Avenue corridor has been the subject of scrutiny for its apparent danger to pedestrians and cyclists. A serious injury crash involving a pedestrian last summer was at least the sixth pedestrian hurt or killed in the area since 2017. In 2023, Capitola resident Debra Towne was killed in a hit-and-run while walking on Bay Avenue. A presentation from engineering planning and design consulting firm Kimley-Horn showed 42 total collisions between 2014 and 2025. Orbach said the safety concerns are serious enough to warrant larger improvements.
“We had a senior resident get hit at [the Bay Avenue-Capitola Avenue intersection] not long ago. How many more of our friends and neighbors are you willing to sacrifice? This is not the kind of history we want to repeat,” Orbach said.
Few of the residents saw it the same way. In about 40 minutes of public comment, the majority of speakers were against the roundabout concepts, mostly citing a tight city budget and a belief that the roundabouts would not sufficiently deal with safety concerns and traffic flow. Instead, many advocated for more enforcement of speed limits and other enhancements, like improved signage. Some recalled an attempted redesign of part of the road in 2025, which took away one lane in each direction on Bay Avenue. The council eventually reversed those changes due to complaints of worsening congestion.
Assuming the plan holds, the crosswalk at Center Street is likely to cost $500,000 to $600,000, according to Jessica Kahn, the city’s public works director. The cost for additional lighting, however, is less clear.
“It would depend on the amount of lighting and what kind of lighting,” said Kahn. “To do something with [Pacific Gas & Electric] and on the grid would be significantly more expensive than perhaps trying out some solar options.”
Latest news
Here’s what’s happening this week on our roadways:
- Electrical work, tree work and utility work are shutting down one lane of Highway 9 between Higgins Road and the Fall Creek bridge, Hihn Street and San Lorenzo Valley Elementary School and Fall Creek Road and San Lorenzo Way from Monday through Friday between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m.
- Striping will shut down the northbound Highway 1 on-ramp at 41st Avenue in Soquel overnight between 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. from Monday through Friday.
- Roadway excavation is shutting down the southbound Highway 1 on-ramp at Park Avenue in Capitola until Aug. 19.
- There is a six-week auxiliary lane closure of the southbound auxiliary lane between Soquel Drive in Live Oak and 41st Avenue in Capitola due to guardrail work.
- 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. Shorter-duration pothole repair work on Porter, Main and Center streets and Daubenbiss Avenue will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
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