Quick Take
The Soquel Drive project involves 5.6 miles of Soquel Drive from La Fonda Avenue in Santa Cruz to State Park Drive in Aptos. Prep work is currently underway, and drivers can expect to run into the heaviest traffic delays in the summer and fall.
Major local road projects over the next few years are encouraging Santa Cruzans to bike, walk and take the bus more often.
Santa Cruz Metro’s major network changes seek to double ridership and vastly improve the local transit system. The Coastal Rail Trail is slowly, but surely, coming along. The Highway 1 expansion project — while largely an effort to improve the often crowded freeway’s traffic flow — includes new bus-on-shoulder lanes and bicycle/pedestrian overcrossings.
Soquel Drive combines all of those aspects in a project that has been three years in the making. In total, the work involves 5.6 miles of Soquel Drive from La Fonda Avenue in Santa Cruz to State Park Drive in Aptos, which is considered the busiest section of the major artery.
For automobiles, crews will resurface and restripe the roadway and install traffic signals that change based on real-time traffic demand at 22 intersections as well as traffic signals that recognize buses and prioritize green lights when a bus is at an intersection.
Cyclists will see 2.7 miles of buffered bike lanes, which entails lanes separated from cars by wider striping that gives more room for bikers, and 2.4 miles of protected bike lanes, which involve a barrier separating the cyclists from cars. For pedestrians, the project will include numerous sidewalk and crosswalk upgrades, including work to make 100 ramps compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Clearly, that’s a lot of work, but county Community Development and Infrastructure spokesperson Tiffany Martinez said she does not anticipate a full closure of that stretch of Soquel Drive. She added that the project is still in its early stages, so there will be minimal impact for the next few months. However, she did say work to restripe the roadway and install fiber optic cables used to operate the adaptive transit signals will cause significant traffic impacts, including potentially closing some lanes.
Crews are just starting preparations for the work and expect to ramp up in the coming months. “People should expect intermittent traffic impacts between spring and fall,” Martinez said, “with a lot of it really falling into summer and fall.”
Martinez added that the project should make the flow of traffic more efficient — and safer — regardless of the mode of transportation one chooses.
While there is not a specific schedule for traffic delays and lane closures yet, Martinez and staff will update the project calendar on the Soquel Drive Buffered Bike Lane and Congestion Mitigation Project website with the latest construction updates as well as the dates and times when work will be happening. Residents can also sign up for the Road Impact Notifications newsletter for the latest updates
As of now, Martinez said it’s too early to tell whether the previously estimated 2025 completion date will be delayed or not, but she wouldn’t be surprised if it is.
“I would almost expect that with the rains we’ve been seeing,” she said. “Especially because we’ll be doing this during two winter seasons.”
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
Electrical and drainage work will cause a closure of the on-ramp to northbound Highway 1 at 41st Avenue, which will last between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday.
Traffic signal, drainage and tree work will cause one-lane traffic control on various sections of Highway 9 from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. In these stretches, there will be one lane open with a traffic light controlling the flow of traffic in both directions. Those areas are the sections between Camp Sycamore Road and the Paradise Park exit, Henry Cowell Redwoods Vista Point and Glengarry Road, California Drive/Middle Road and Alba Road, and Old County Highway and Pool Drive.
In South County, widespread paving work will shut down southbound Highway 1 on-ramps from southbound Highway 129, southbound Harkins Slough Road, southbound Airport Boulevard, and southbound Buena Vista Drive.
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