Quick Take
The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission is taking input for its long-term regional transportation plan, which lists and prioritizes transportation projects through the year 2050. There are still many months between now and its final approval, and project inclusions draw from both the needs of local jurisdictions and public input.
2050 might be a ways away, but transportation planning and prioritizing projects can take awhile. Now, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is putting together its next set of regional transportation plans, with projects that might not begin for decades.
The commission is working on its 2050 regional transportation plan (RTP), which will be a fairly minor update to the 2045 RTP, approved in June 2022. The plan is state-mandated, and serves as a long-term planning document for future projects. Essentially, it is a guide for future transportation funding decisions.
The document, which is updated every four years, includes lists of needs and goals related to transit, highway, bike and pedestrian transportation improvements along with the estimated amount of money available for them at the local, state and federal levels of government. RTC Transportation Planner Tommy Travers, who is managing the latest RTP update, said this is a chance for county residents to review the list of projects already planned and provide suggestions for other areas to explore.
More important public input opportunities will come down the road when RTC asks which projects should be prioritized — the more meaningful public role in the process.
The RTC has already released a list of goals and policies for the 2050 RTP — prioritizing projects that provide alternatives to driving, improve safety, provide efficient maintenance and improvements, and address climate change and transportation equity.
“We try to do this process based both on our goals and policies and on what the community tells us,” said Travers. “We want to hear about any additional project idea you have that isn’t in the current document.”
The RTC’s role, Travers said, is largely advisory, with the county and its cities making the firm decisions on implementation.
“We rely heavily on what local jurisdictions decide on, since they are the ones implementing most projects,” he said. “We can’t always dictate what a place does, but we can say that a specific project or projects achieve set goals like safety, mobility and more.”
cabrillo bridge update
The RTC can also categorize projects into two categories: “constrained” and “unconstrained.” A constrained project means work the agency expects there will be ample funding and community need to execute, and should prioritize. Unconstrained means that the project is partially funded or not funded at all, and is considered a lower priority.
Although the final version of the 2050 RTP will not head to the commission for full approval until 2026, Travers said the agency will have its complete list of projects finished by the September RTC meeting, and expects to release the first draft of the RTP by early 2025. He added that it is a fluid document that can and likely will go through changes between now and 2026: “Sometimes it’s hard for people to provide input because it’s such a big list and so long-term, but we can always update this — it’s not set in stone.”
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
- Tree work and drainage work will shut down one lane at various sections of Highway 9 between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m. from Monday through Friday. Those sections are between Marshall Creek Bridge and Alba Road, and Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue.
- Repaving of a 4-mile stretch of Highway 1 between the Buena Vista Drive bridge in Watsonville and the Rio Del Mar Boulevard bridge in Aptos began on Sunday. It will cause intermittent overnight single-lane closures of northbound Highway 1 on Sundays from 9 p.m. to 5 a.m. and Mondays through Thursdays from 7:30 p.m. to 5 a.m. Overnight single-lane southbound closures will be from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Sundays and 8:30 p.m. to 6 a.m. on Mondays through Thursdays.
- 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 — which 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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