Carmageddon: Passenger rail, rural highways in focus at community meetings this month

Santa Cruz County residents will have the opportunity to weigh in on the Coastal Rail Trail, passenger train plans and rural highway safety in a number of public meetings over the next few weeks.

The first round of community meetings will focus on various aspects of the rail trail and passenger rail project in Santa Cruz and Watsonville, as both jurisdictions have a number of design possibilities still under discussion. 

The Watsonville meeting will come first, next Monday, May 12, at 6 p.m., in the community room on the fourth floor of the Civic Plaza, and will involve updates on the proposed rail and trail routes and possible locations for passenger rail stations.

Planners said in April that the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) and Nebraska-based engineering consultant firm HDR, Inc. are discussing constructing the Watsonville station at one of two locations along Walker Street — either at the old Watsonville depot location near the intersection of West Beach Street and Walker Street, or between West Beach Street and 2nd Street — and running the tracks along the east curb of Walker Street.

There are a few options for Segment 18 of the trail between Ohlone Parkway and Walker Street in Watsonville as well. One would be to build a paved path alongside the rail corridor between Walker Street and Lee Road. Another would be to build a path on West Beach Street, up Ohlone Parkway, and alongside the rail line between Ohlone Parkway and Walker Street. The last is to build the trail on West Beach Street, entirely outside of the rail corridor.

The Santa Cruz meeting will happen on Wednesday, May 14, at 6 p.m. at the London Nelson Community Center. That meeting will focus on the rail and trail options for Beach Street in front of the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. The RTC and HDR are considering shifting the tracks about 20 feet east from where they are now, away from the log ride at the Boardwalk and onto Beach Street, eventually meeting up with the existing rail corridor as it approaches Pacific Avenue.

Highway safety is the main topic of next week’s meetings. The Rural Highways Safety Plan seeks to improve safety for motorists, bicycles and pedestrians along the county’s six major rural highways — Highway 1 north of Santa Cruz, and Highways 9, 236 and 35 in the Santa Cruz Mountains and Highways 129 and 152 outside of Watsonville.

The meetings will focus on collision trends, possible safety improvements and the areas of highest concern along the corridors. Attendees will have the opportunity to review collision trends and give feedback on other safety concerns and possible infrastructure improvements such as new signage, guardrails, bike lanes and pedestrian crossings. Steve Davis, project manager with Fehr & Peers, a transportation consultant firm working with the RTC to develop the plan, previously said that there were 1,262 crashes reported on rural highways in between 2014 and 2023, 213 of which resulted in severe injuries and 43 of which caused deaths.

The first meeting will be at the Felton Community Hall on Tuesday, May 20, and the second will be on Wednesday, May 21, at the Watsonville Civic Plaza Community Room. Both will begin at 6 p.m.

Latest news

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

• 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.

• Northbound Highway 1 will be closed overnight from State Park Drive to Bay Avenue/Porter Street from Sunday through Tuesday between 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. Then, southbound Highway 1 will be closed overnight from Bay Avenue/Porter Street to Park Avenue on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.

• 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.

• Sections of Soquel Avenue, Seabright Avenue and Water Street will be closed on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. through May 16 in order for crews to install fiber optic cables for new traffic signals. Those sections are on Soquel Avenue from Seabright Avenue to La Fonda Avenue, Seabright Avenue from Water Street to Soquel Avenue, and Water Street from North Pacific Avenue to Seabright Avenue.

• Tree work, drainage work, and utility work will close down sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between the San Lorenzo River Bridge and the Kings Creek bridge, Henry Cowell Redwoods Vista Point and Glengarry Road, Graham Hill Road/Bennett Creek and Brackney Road/Glen Lomond Lane, Arboleda Way/Highland County Park and Scenic Drive, Clear Creek Road/Pacific Street and Prospect Avenue, and Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue.

• 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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