Carmageddon: County’s Go Bike! incentive program; RTC hosts coastal resilience workshop

Go Santa Cruz County’s Go Bike! incentive program has returned for county residents who cycle or are looking to make the switch from cars.

The incentive program aims to get more people out of their cars and onto bikes for their commutes, in line with the concerted efforts of the past several years to bolster and improve active transportation infrastructure and accessibility. That includes Santa Cruz Metro’s network overhaul, which is currently seeking a local funding source, gradual progress on the Coastal Rail Trail despite escalating costs, and improved safety features along Soquel Drive, one of the county’s main east-west arteries.

The incentive program reflects the fast-growing popularity of e-bikes as well. According to a Bike Santa Cruz County survey, 44% of 743 respondents said they ride an e-bike at least occasionally, while another 17% would like to join them. Half of the e-bike riders are relying on their bikes as a primary mode of transportation.

Despite the popularity, e-bikes are typically pricey. The incentive program seeks to mitigate that barrier to entry for prospective riders. It provides participants with vouchers that range from $300 to $1,200 depending on the bicycle in question. The vouchers are $300 for non-electric bikes, $800 for standard e-bikes and $1,200 for cargo e-bikes. There is also a voucher worth $245 for a membership for Santa Cruz’s bike-share service, BCycle.

The application is open and must be completed by Aug. 31. Applicants must be 18 or older, or a community-serving organization, live or work within the downtown parking district or work for the City of Santa Cruz, and currently be receiving a low-income benefit.

Click here to access the application.

Input opportunity for San Vicente-Waddell Coastal Resilience project

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is hosting a community workshop for a climate change adaptation taking place up the coast at the end of the month.

The RTC, in collaboration with the Resource Conservation District of Santa Cruz County, is aiming to mitigate climate risks to Highway 1 and the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line along the North Coast. The infrastructure is vulnerable to storms, sea-level rise, waves and erosion and other coastal damage. The project attempts to make facilities more resilient to those existing hazards and restore the surrounding environments.

The project team will seek feedback on the technical analysis it has completed to find both the most vulnerable parts of the current infrastructure and how environmental changes to the shoreline along with coastal flooding are expected to affect the area.

Attendees will be able to share thoughts about the project concepts and how future transportation facilities could function.

The workshop is scheduled for Aug. 27 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. in the Seymour Marine Discovery Center meeting room, 100 McAllister Way, Santa Cruz. For more information, visit the project webpage.

Latest news

Here’s what’s happening this week on our roadways:

• Utility and shoulder work is shutting down one lane in various sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Those sections are between Spring Creek Road and Riverside Drive, Ramona Drive and Stapp Road, and Tin Can Ranch Road and about 1.5 miles south of Highway 35.

• The southbound Highway 1 off-ramp at Bay Avenue in Capitola is scheduled to be closed for approximately four months starting from Aug. 2 as crews reconstruct the ramp as part of the bus-on-shoulder project. 

• Bridge work is currently shutting down alternating lanes of Highway 9 between Pool Drive and Old County Highway and Riverdale Park and Monaco Lane until April 30, 2027.

• Roadway excavation is shutting down the southbound Highway 1 on-ramp at Park Avenue in Capitola until Aug. 19.

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