Carmageddon: RTC hosting two upcoming rail trail-related info sessions

As plans for both a pedestrian trail and passenger rail service move forward, there are a number of components of the major project that remain hot-button topics in public discussion, sometimes highlighting public division around the endeavor.

So the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is hosting two information sessions over the next two weeks to give residents a chance to take a look at some of the biggest components of the projects.

On Tuesday, the agency will hold a town hall in Capitola to offer a look at Coastal Rail Trail Segments 10 and 11, the passenger rail vision in the city, and mobile home encroachments along the rail line in Live Oak. The county board of supervisors initially failed to approve the two rail trail segments last March, before eventually approving them in May. They run between 17th Avenue in Live Oak and State Park Drive in Aptos.

RTC spokesperson Shannon Munz told Lookout that the fact that the segments cannot run along the Capitola trestle bridge — as the structure would not support both a rail line and a newly constructed bike path — is a main point of conversation, but that the goal is to “address all rail and trail projects within Capitola.”

Munz said that RTC brought different plans to the Capitola City Council in February for where Segments 10 and 11 of the trail could run, plans that envisioned the trail diverging from the rail line in the area and running onto Park Avenue within the city of Capitola. Because the road is city property, the city council needs to approve the plan; it did not do so. Councilmembers said they needed more information and requested that the RTC provide more details to residents and local lawmakers on the possible traffic and infrastructure impacts via a town hall meeting. The meeting will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday at New Brighton Middle School’s performing arts center.

The following public meeting, slated for Wednesday, March 12, will be a virtual information session focused exclusively on bridge infrastructure related to the passenger rail project. The meeting will include a presentation on the various bridges in the county that may require repair, rehabilitation or complete replacement. Attendees will also get a look at conceptual bridge design types proposed for the existing bridges that may need replacement.

The meeting is scheduled to run from 6 to 7:15 p.m.; those interested can watch via Zoom here or watch in person at the RTC office at 1101 Pacific Ave., Suite 250.

Munz said that the info session and RTC’s March 20 meeting will share the engineering work that the project team has done in the past year, identifying which bridges can be repaired, which need replacement and which are fine as is, as well as preliminary costs for replacements. RTC estimated in April 2024 that 23 bridges could need replacement, but did not give a cost estimate.

Last April, RTC commissioners directed staff to start drafting preliminary designs for how to upgrade and repair the 32-mile Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line to bring it up to industry standards for both passenger and freight travel.

Munz said that both information sessions are part of the agency’s push to complete the project concept report for the Zero Emission Passenger Rail & Trail Project, which is now expected in the fall, rather than the spring, according to a RTC news release sent out Friday morning. The report will offer an initial vision of what passenger rail could look like in Santa Cruz County, including its environmental impacts, ridership estimates and how much a train could cost. 

“There’s so much information there and we don’t want to dump it all on everyone at once,” said Munz. “We want to give people time to digest and for us to get input after they can look at things.”

Latest news

Check out our Carmageddon road project list here. This week, pay particular attention to:

• Caltrans expects the on-ramp to southbound Highway 1 from Bay Avenue in Capitola to reopen on March 15, following a roadway excavation. It has been closed since late September to allow construction crews to build a new ramp. 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.
• Work in Soquel will see lane closures at the Soquel Drive-Main Street and Soquel Drive-Porter Street intersections on Wednesday and Thursday. There will be temporary closures of eastbound lanes between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. and of westbound lanes between 8:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.
• Tree work and slope repair will close down sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between Willow Brook/Locust Drive and Main Street, Clear Creek/Pacific Street and Irwin Way, Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue, and Spring Creek Road and Camp Campbell Entrance.
• 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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