Carmageddon: Council moves bicycle, pedestrian improvements to Scotts Valley Drive forward

The Scotts Valley City Council gave preliminary direction to the city’s public works staff to pursue one of four options for improvements to Scotts Valley Drive that would emphasize pedestrian and bicycle safety. City staff will conduct public outreach and virtual workshops later this winter to hone the project.

The proposed improvements were formed from the city’s 2021 active transportation plan, which expressed the need for better pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure along Scotts Valley Drive, particularly for students. The improvements also seek to restore aging pavement, install aesthetic upgrades and potentially implement safety features such as new signals at intersections and better crosswalks.

The improvements are another example of efforts around Santa Cruz County to create alternative and active transportation infrastructure that promotes walking and biking rather than driving. Development of a regional rail trail continues to move forward, while a Highway 1 expansion project includes both new bus-on-shoulder lanes and bicycle/pedestrian overcrossings. Santa Cruz Metro is in the midst of its own network overhaul, aiming to double ridership and significantly improve the transit system’s efficiency. Those changes are scheduled to be completed by December.

Scotts Valley Public Works Director Rodolfo Onchi said the Scotts Valley Drive project “has the potential to transform, optimize and shape the future” of the street.

Derek Wu, project engineer with public infrastructure design firm Kimley-Horn, which is the city’s consultant on the project, presented four options for how the city could approach improvements to Scotts Valley Drive at the city council’s meeting in late September: 

• The first, which members of the council endorsed, involves a fairly straightforward addition of a landscaped buffered bike lane and reduction of the width of the driving lanes. 
• The second entails widening the sidewalk and bike lane, installing landscaping between the bike lane and the automobile lanes, and removing the center turn lane. 
• The third involves installing a two-way bicycle path on the west side of the street, shifting the driving lanes east and reducing their widths, and installing a landscape buffer between the bike lane and the automobile lanes. 
• The final option involves a greater amount of street beautification, with wider bike lanes and sidewalks, only one car lane instead of two, and a landscape buffer between the bike lanes and automobile lanes.

Wu said that while options 3 and 4 provided the best bike access and safety improvements, they also would cost the most and take the longest to complete. Conversely, the first two options would see only minor improvements in bicycle and pedestrian safety, but are the least costly and least impactful to intersections and driveways. Because of that, Scotts Valley Mayor Randy Johnson advocated for pursuing the first option.

“We don’t have a lot of money, but we do a lot of good things, and a lot of that has to do with the compromises that we make, how we make dollars stretch, and that we are efficient,” he said. “I think layout No. 1 does all of those things.”

Johnson added that staff can explore expanding on the first option if need be, should that be the project ultimately chosen.

“Treat it as a pilot program. If it doesn’t work and things go sideways, then we can add on,” he said. “But until then, I think layout No. 1 is the best way for us to proceed.”

Johnson implored staff to engage in “comprehensive” public outreach, especially with the business community that could be affected by the road changes. Staff is expected to come back to the council with a project recommendation in anticipation of beginning environmental studies and design work by spring 2025.

Johnson told Lookout on Friday that while there are no set dates planned for community input sessions, city staff is working toward setting some up during the winter involving both businesses and the public at large. He said the city has to move forward with attention to detail.

“Should there be bollards? Warning strips? With traffic designs, you have to move carefully,” he said, adding that there are many different viewpoints the city has to take into consideration. “Designs are in the works, probably as we speak, and public workshops and open houses will be important.”

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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. The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission expects the ramp to reopen on Nov. 29.

• The on-ramp to northbound Highway 1 at 41st Avenue will be closed between 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. from Monday through Thursday. 

• The on-ramp to northbound Highway 1 from northbound 41st Avenue and the on-ramp to southbound Highway 1 from southbound Soquel Drive will be closed between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. from Monday through Thursday for landscaping work.

• Landscape, drainage, and tree work will shut down alternating lanes at various sections of Highway 9 between 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday. Those sections are between Camp Sycamore Road and Glengarry Road, Old Big Trees Road and Fall Creek Bridge and Willow Brook/Locust Drive and Main Street.

• 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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