Carmageddon: Upcoming open house for safety improvements on Water Street

The City of Santa Cruz is hosting an open house on Wednesday to seek feedback on initial plans for intersection improvements and new bicycle facilities on Water Street and in the surrounding area.

The project, named the Water Street Safety Project, envisions one-way separated bike lanes on each side of Water Street between Poplar Avenue and Branciforte Avenue, an area where many Branciforte Middle School students commute to and from school every day. The city is also considering changes to the intersection of Poplar Avenue and Water Street, according to Transportation Planner Amelia Conlen.

“It’s pretty tricky to navigate right now, and so we’re trying to make that safer, especially for students traveling through and up Poplar to the middle school,” she said.

In addition to seeking input on the general design, the open house will focus on the options for the intersection of Poplar Avenue and Water Street and Soquel Avenue, which Conlen said is “really challenging to navigate now.”

Poplar Avenue intersects with both Water Street and Soquel Avenue, creating multiple crosswalks heading in different directions and some small islands at the intersections, resulting in a relatively convoluted traffic design. Conlen said that the city has also considered a two-way separated bike lane on Poplar Avenue, if it is feasible and if community members approve of it.

Conlen said the project is still in its infancy, and there is no current timetable for construction, but that it could potentially break ground toward the end of 2027. The city still needs to work through a number of factors, including how exactly it will construct the new lanes. For example, it will need to work with the fire department to figure out whether it will install something like bollards or curbing to separate cyclists from vehicles.

The project is part of both the city’s local roadway safety plan and its active transportation plan, two long-term planning documents that seek to improve safety on the city’s roads and promote walking, biking and other forms of active transportation over taking cars. The project is funded by a $416,000 grant from the federal Highway Safety Improvement Program. Conlen said that there are no cost estimates yet, given the project’s early stage, but it could end up costing more than the grant money the city has secured.

“Because we are trying to add the elements on Poplar, we may need to look for additional funding, but we’re not really at that point yet,” she said.

The city previously installed improved bike lanes on Water Street around 2020, and Conlen said this current endeavor is essentially the final stage of that work. 

The open house will be at Branciforte Middle School’s multi-purpose room from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Wednesday.

Latest news

Here’s what’s happening this week on our roadways:

• Utility and shoulder work is shutting down one lane in various sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. Those sections are between Lorenzo Avenue and California Drive/Middle Road, Cascade Avenue and Irwin Way, Spring Creek Road and Riverside Drive, Ramona Drive and Stapp Road and Watermans Gap Junction and the 21-mile postmark of Highway 9.

• There will be a full closure of the San Lorenzo Way Bridge in Felton beginning Tuesday and running through Friday, Oct. 9, as crews prepare to replace the bridge.

• Shoulder work is causing an overnight closure of the southbound Bay Avenue off-ramp and on-ramp at northbound Highway 1 in Capitola from Monday through Thursday between 9 p.m. and 5 a.m.

• The southbound Highway 1 off-ramp at Bay Avenue in Capitola is in the second month of a four-month closure that began Aug. 2, as crews reconstruct the ramp as part of the bus-on-shoulder facility. 

• Bridge work is shutting down alternating lanes of Highway 9 between Pool Drive and Old County Highway and Riverdale Park and Monaco Lane until April 30, 2027.

• Roadway excavation is shutting down the southbound Highway 1 on-ramp at Park Avenue in Capitola until Nov. 19.

Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.