Quick Take
Two grants the Santa Cruz Police Department has received since the beginning of November will be brought to the Santa Cruz City Council in December for direction and clarity around next steps. Both are going to be put toward various programs and activities to promote traffic, bicycle and pedestrian safety.
The Santa Cruz Police Department received a grant for its traffic safety program last week, complementing a similar grant it received the week prior that targets bicycle and pedestrian safety. The Santa Cruz City Council will weigh specific programs and activities to fund in one of its upcoming meetings.
Santa Cruz County has made a strong push for improved bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure and safety in recent years, as well as new traffic control measures to improve transportation for those that primarily drive as well.
The $73,000 grant, awarded by the California Office of Traffic Safety, is intended to go toward education and traffic enforcement program SCPD hopes will reduce the number of serious injuries and fatalities on county roads.
The recent grant award comes just a week after the department received a separate $72,714 grant for its bicycle and pedestrian safety program, also running through September 2025. That grant money is heading toward numerous activities like bike training courses for youth, community and school presentations, community bike rides, and pop-up events focused on safety equipment for cyclists.
SCPD Lt. Wes Morey said the department was grateful to receive the grant and that it intends to “increase enforcement of traffic laws and focus on high-risk areas” to make roads safer.
In practice, this will likely include more DUI checkpoints, increased distracted driving enforcement, focusing on the most common traffic violations that cause crashes, such as speeding, running red lights and stop signs, improper turning and failing to yield, and community presentations on impaired and distracted driving, speeding and bicycle and pedestrian safety.
SCPD spokesperson Katie Lee said that given the wide range of activities and programs the grant money can go toward, the agency is required to bring the options to the Santa Cruz City Council for input and direction, which will happen at its Dec. 10 meeting. She said that SCPD will have more clarity on how it will proceed with programs for both grant awards after that meeting.
Lee added that, internally, SCPD hopes to place a lot of emphasis on bicycle and pedestrian safety, as the agency has intended to address the issue in programs funded by both of the awards. That aspect of traffic safety has become even more important with the amount of work around the county to improve and add to its bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure.
“That is a big one. It’s reinforcing what everyone is doing, and Santa Cruz always has a lot of pedestrians and cyclists, especially during the tourist season,” she said.
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
- The on-ramp to southbound Highway 1 from Bay Avenue in Capitola will be closed for two months to allow construction crews to adjust the roadway elevation in line with the bus-on-shoulder lane. 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. RTC expects the ramp to reopen on Nov. 29.
- The on-ramp to northbound Highway 1 from northbound 41st Avenue will be closed from Monday and Tuesday between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. for landscape work.
- Drainage work, tree work and guardrail work will close down sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between Lazy Woods Road and lower Glen Arbor Road, lower Glen Arbor Road and California Drive/Middle Road, San Lorenzo Valley High and Lazy Woods Road and Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue.
- Through the end of 2024, various sections of Soquel Drive between State Park Drive and Paul Sweet Road could be reduced to one lane of traffic as the Soquel Drive Buffered Bike Lane and Congestion Mitigation Project moves forward. It includes new bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, adaptive traffic signals and updated sidewalks and curbs. The sections of road will be intermittently closed as work continues at multiple sites. Specifically, look out for intermittent single-lane closures between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
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