Carmageddon: RTC seeking public input on long-term regional plan

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is looking ahead – 25 years ahead, in fact – and is putting together a set of regional transportation plans with projects that might not begin for years.

Those ideas all come together in the 2050 regional transportation plan (RTP), which is a generally small update to the 2045 version, approved in June 2022. It is a state-mandated document and serves as a long-term planning vision for future projects and a guide for transportation funding decisions way down the road.

The RTP is updated every four years and includes lists of needs and goals pertaining to transit, highway, bike and pedestrian transportation improvements as well as a ballpark amount of money available for them at the local, state and federal levels of the government for the next 25 years.

The RTC’s list of goals and policies for the 2050 RTP include prioritizing projects that provide alternatives to driving, improve safety, provide efficient maintenance and improvements and address climate change and transportation equity. Potential projects include widespread pavement rehabilitation, intersection improvements on busy streets, citywide bike projects and more. 

The plan is available for review, with public comment open through Jan. 30, and a public hearing planned for Jan. 15 as part of the commission’s monthly meeting. Anyone who would like to submit comments may do so by emailing info@sccrtc.org, with “RTP” in the subject line.

County public health awarded over $639,000 for traffic safety programs

The California Office of Traffic Safety awarded the Santa Cruz County Health Services Agency three competitive grants last week, totaling $639,631 for programs that will prioritize preventing impaired driving and promoting cyclist, pedestrian and child passenger safety. Of the total amount of money, $250,000 went to bicycle and pedestrian safety programs, $280,000 went to impaired driving education and resources, and $109,631 went to child passenger safety.

The county intends to use the grants for various, community-based activities. For bicycle and pedestrian safety, those will include classroom presentations; distributing lights, helmets and reflective safety items to low-income community members; walking field trips and on-bike safety training for youth and adults, and community outreach events.

Impaired driving education activities include no-cost beverage service training to servers and managers, bilingual impaired driving and traffic safety education, and distributing safe driving education information to youth and adults through social media and community events.

On child passenger safety, the county plans to collaborate with local partners for car seat checkup events and education, distribute child safety seats to low-income parents, and to collaborate with law enforcement and other partners to improve awareness of child passenger safety.

Latest news

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

• Roadway improvements are shutting down one lane of Highway 9 between Glengarry Road and Hihn Street and Mount Cross Camp Road and lower Glen Arbor Road on Monday and Tuesday from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.
  
• Storm damage repairs on the railroad bridge at New Brighton State Beach in Capitola will cause intermittent traffic delays for those traveling to and from the park during December.
  
• Emergency sewer work in Soquel Village could occasionally block access to driveways, sidewalks, on-street parking and interrupt sewer service on weekdays until June 30, 2026, on Soquel Drive, Porter Street and Main Street. Work on Soquel Drive will be overnight from 8:30 p.m. to 5:30 a.m. and from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Porter and Main Streets. Other, shorter-duration potholing on Porter, Main and Center streets and Daubenbiss Avenue will take place from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
  
• A full closure of the Murray Street Bridge is scheduled to run until February 2026. It is closed to vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. Vehicle traffic detours are along Soquel Avenue and Capitola Road via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Bicycles are being detoured across Arana Gulch and along Broadway via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Pedestrians are being detoured around the north harbor.
  
• The installation of the Newell Creek Pipeline on Graham Hill Road between Summit Avenue and Lockewood Lane is taking place on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. and could cause delays of up to five minutes.

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