Quick Take
Changes are in store for rural highways in Santa Cruz County. The Regional Transportation Commission is asking for public input on proposed safety improvements ahead of a presentation at its Nov. 6 meeting.
Santa Cruz County transportation officials have released a handful of draft designs for changes to several rural highways as part of a plan to eventually eliminate traffic deaths on remote mountain and coastal roads.
The proposals by the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) target crash-prone sections of Highways 1, 9, 129 and 152, where more than 1,200 collisions have killed dozens and seriously injured hundreds of others over the past nine years.
The Rural Highways Safety Action Plan aims to identify crash patterns and locations and recommend enhancements that would reduce fatal and serious collisions. Its goal is to reduce traffic deaths and serious injuries to zero by 2050 on highways in remote areas of the county, such as in the Santa Cruz Mountains, north of Watsonville, and up the coast north of Santa Cruz.
The RTC has been working on this plan incrementally for several years with help from transportation consulting firm Fehr & Peers. The plan analyzed data from 2014 to 2023, but did not include collisions that only involved property damage, since the plan is focused on preventing deaths and serious injuries. Fehr & Peers project manager Steve Davis previously told Lookout that 1,262 crashes were reported during that nine-year time frame, as well as 213 serious injuries and 43 deaths.
Community members can view the initial designs proposed for Highway 1 toward Davenport, Highway 9 through Ben Lomond and Boulder Creek, and Highways 129 and 152 north and east of Watsonville. The designs range from better crosswalks and bike infrastructure to signage and lane adjustments.
For example, Highway 1 at Dimeo Lane, where the city’s landfill is located, has a turn from a stop onto the highway. The draft improvements would modify the slope of the hillside at the intersection for better visibility, change the right lane into a right turn-only lane, and install “pork chops” — oblong cement medians that form a dedicated turn lane.
On Highway 9 in Boulder Creek, the agency drafted plans for high-visibility crosswalks, new sidewalks, removing excess vegetation and more.
In Watsonville, Highway 152 near St. Francis High School and Lakeview Middle School could get crosswalks, more school signs and a multi-use path beside the roadway, separated from traffic by landscaping or barriers.
The RTC is collecting feedback via email at info@sccrtc.org. Include “RHSP” in the subject line. The commission is scheduled to discuss the draft improvements at the next RTC meeting on Nov. 6.
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 Willow Brook Drive and the northern junction of Highway 236 starting on Monday and lasting through May 20, 2026. Work hours are between 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Mondays through Thursdays.
- Pavement, guardrail and erosion control work are shutting down about 1 mile of Upper East Zayante Road on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. through early November. The road will open up between noon and 12:30 p.m. each day to let traffic pass.
- There are overnight closures of the southbound Highway 1 on-ramps at Larkin Valley Road from Sunday through Friday between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.
- There are overnight closures of the southbound Highway 1 on- and off-ramps at Airport Boulevard from Sunday through Friday between 7 p.m. and 6 a.m.
- Shoulder work is causing an overnight closure of one lane of northbound Highway 1 Buena Vista Drive and Rob Roy/Freedom Boulevard from Monday through Friday from 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m.
- A full closure of the Murray Street Bridge will run until February 2026. It is closed to vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians. Vehicle traffic detours along Soquel Avenue and Capitola Road via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Bicycles are detoured across Arana Gulch and along Broadway via Seabright Avenue and 7th Avenue. Pedestrians are 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.
- Utility work and tree work is closing down sections of Highway 9 between Main Street and Fillmore Avenue, Big Basin Way and Forest Street, and Kings Creek Road and the Camp Campbell entrance from Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
- Storm damage repair is shutting down sections of Eureka Canyon Road in Corralitos for several months. Work takes place on weekdays only from 7:30 a.m. through 5 p.m. and is scheduled to last through Oct. 31.
- Roadwork on northbound and southbound Main Street between 5th Street and East Lake Avenue in Watsonville is causing intermittent closures of one lane in each direction. Sidewalks within the work zone will be closed, and pedestrians and cyclists can use the crosswalks outside the construction area.
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