Quick Take
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is seeking input on how to spend Measure D funds in the upcoming year. Comments are due by 9 a.m. Wednesday, and the public is invited to share thoughts with the commission’s board at its Thursday meeting at the county board of supervisors chamber.
If you said you’re tired of thinking about the election, no one would blame you. The good news is that you can still remain civically engaged while taking your mind off electoral politics for a few minutes.
As the year inches toward its close, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is seeking public input on how it should use funds from Measure D, the transportation improvement ballot measure passed by voters in November 2016. The 30-year, half-cent sales tax went into effect in April 2017. Since its implementation, it has been a major source of local funds for both major transformative projects as well as the backlog of local road maintenance.
The RTC is in charge of allocating Measure D funds to local projects that align with the measure’s expenditure plan, which was also approved by voters. The agency also prepares an implementation plan for major projects and efforts in the region, many of which are high-profile and well underway already.
No new major projects being proposed this coming year. The RTC is proposing to use Measure D revenue to leverage state and federal grants to push forward on some of the area’s major ongoing projects.
Many of these projects have seen significant movement in 2024. That includes a Highway 1 expansion project, building auxiliary lanes at the on- and off-ramps and bus-on-shoulder sections between Soquel Avenue and Freedom Boulevard, and new bicycle/pedestrian bridges over the freeway. Phase 1 and Phase 2 are moving forward concurrently, which means parts of the freeway from Soquel Drive to State Park Drive will be under construction through the end of 2026.
The Coastal Rail Trail envisions a 32-mile continuous pedestrian and bike trail that runs through Santa Cruz County, all the way from Davenport to Watsonville. It is divided into 20 segments, which are in various stages of approval and development. The RTC is also working through a plan to break ground on a passenger rail service by the early 2030s.
There are also plans for improvements to mountain roads, such as Highway 9 and others throughout the San Lorenzo Valley. Those include improvements to sidewalks through downtown Boulder Creek, safety features near the school complexes in Felton, and more.
Those who wish to provide public comments to the RTC board in person can do so on Thursday at 9:30 a.m. at the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors chamber. The deadline to submit comments by email is 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Send those comments to ino@sccrtc.org.
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 will be closed for two months to allow construction crews to adjust the roadway elevation in line with the bus-on-shoulder lane. 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. RTC expects the ramp to reopen on Nov. 29.
- The on-ramp to northbound Highway 1 from northbound 41st Avenue will be closed from Monday through Wednesday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for landscape work.
- Drainage work, tree work and guardrail work will close down sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between San Lorenzo Valley High School and Lazy Woods Road, Willow Brook/Locust Drive and California Drive/Middle Road, Marshall Creek Bridge and Brown Gables Road, Irwin Way and Forest Street, Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue, and Spring Creek Road and Greenvale Drive.
- Through the end of 2024, various sections of Soquel Drive between State Park Drive and Paul Sweet Road could be reduced to one lane of traffic as the Soquel Drive Buffered Bike Lane and Congestion Mitigation Project moves forward. It includes new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, adaptive traffic signals and updated sidewalks and curbs. The sections of road will be intermittently closed as work continues at multiple sites. Specifically, look out for intermittent single-lane closures between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
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