Quick Take
The huge swells that hit Santa Cruz County in late December have delayed the reopening of a two-way West Cliff Drive until mid-February, assuming there are no further weather impacts.
Editor’s note: Carmageddon will not publish next Monday, Jan. 15, in observance of Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
For almost exactly a year, the stretch of West Cliff Drive between Columbia Street and Woodrow Avenue has had its eastbound lane closed. The closure is part of a pilot project to test out transitioning West Cliff to one-way traffic after last winter’s deluge of storms battered the scenic Santa Cruz road, damaging the street and eroding the bluffs.
However, in September, the City of Santa Cruz announced that it would work to restore two-way traffic along that stretch of West Cliff Drive with the hope that both lanes could be up and running by mid-January.
The reopening will have to wait a little longer. The city now expects two-way traffic to return to West Cliff by mid-February, according to Kevin Crossley, the city’s assistant public works director.
Just before the New Year, high tides and huge swells hammered Santa Cruz County once again. Low-lying areas like Rio Del Mar and Capitola Village received minor damage and saw flooding of streets directly around the shore. West Cliff Drive didn’t come out unscathed, either.
City of Santa Cruz spokesperson Erika Smart said that two sites just west of Columbia Street (labeled 920 and 932 on the map below) received more damage from the wave swells, though that damage was “minimal.” She said that the formwork — molds into which concrete or a similar material is cast in order to shape it — bore the brunt of it.
Granite Construction crews working on the site need to repair the damage to the formwork so they can continue pouring concrete for the infill walls — newly constructed facades for the cliffs to fortify the street as it aims to a safe reopening.
But that wasn’t the only part of West Cliff to get hit. West of Woodrow, the section leading to Almar Avenue has also been closed for about a year. That section was not slated to reopen until the fall, as city staff continue to work on finalizing repair design for the damaged culvert along Bethany Curve. Smart said the area that received the most damage last year (labeled 1016 on the map below) also received a small amount of damage in the most recent storms.
She added that crews are going to evaluate the damage to determine whether that timeline will need to be adjusted as well. And though it appears likely that the stretch of West Cliff Drive between Columbia Street and Woodrow Avenue will be able to reopen in February, it is all weather-dependent.
“There has been tons of wave action,” said Smart. “And when those waves crash, it’s the debris inside them that causes the most problems.”
In his column Sunday, Wallace Baine revisited the work of resident group Save West Cliff, which seeks to attract public support for protecting the beloved road from further storm damage and erosion. He also wrote about the city’s 50-year plans to possibly reimagine West Cliff as a permanent one-way street or park.
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
Tree and brush removal will cause close down one lane of traffic at various locations along Highway 9 from Monday through Thursday. One alternating lane of traffic will be open throughout the working period. Crews will be working near Riverdale Boulevard in Boulder Creek from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday through Wednesday, and just north of Clear Creek Road in Brookdale from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Thursday.
The Highway 1 expansion project continues, causing alternating closures of the on-ramps to southbound Highway 1 at 41st Avenue and Soquel Avenue. The closures will last from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., but the two ramps will never be closed at the same time. Drivers can expect delays of up to 10 minutes.
In South County, the Pajaro Valley Water Management Agency is beginning work to install a 6-mile, 30-inch water pipeline to transport treated lake water to more than 5,500 acres of farmland. As a result, the Highway 129-Riverside Drive corridor will see a number of traffic delays on weekdays. There will be one-lane traffic control on the corridor west of Union Street, and streetside parking will be unavailable on the corridor east of Union from Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 7 a.m.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.