Carmageddon: West Cliff Drive could reopen to two-way traffic by the end of the year; other major work pushing forward

The City of Santa Cruz, loaded up with road and transportation projects, is hoping to see some of its high-profile endeavors wrap up or break ground in the coming months. West Cliff Drive could be open to two-way traffic by the end of the year.

At Thursday’s meeting of the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, city Public Works Director Nathan Nguyen detailed a busy second half of 2024.

Work on West Cliff Drive, pummeled by storm damage in early 2023 and seeing a bit more in 2024, is inching forward as crews churn through repairs needed in various locations from Columbia Street to Auburn Avenue.

Nguyen said crews are making good progress on the section of West Cliff Drive between Columbia Street and Woodrow Avenue, which has been closed to two-way traffic for about 18 months. He added that the city is aiming to finish up those repairs, as well as a Bethany Curve culvert repair, by the end of November. The city has been trying to get Pacific Gas & Electric to move a utility pole out of the project area so crews could continue progress, which the utility company finally started to do last week.

Nguyen said that if all goes well, the city hopes to reopen West Cliff Drive to two-way traffic by the end of the year.

Nguyen also discussed the 0.8-mile stretch of the Coastal Rail Trail — called Segment 7, Phase 2 — that runs from the intersection of California Street and Bay Avenue to the Santa Cruz Wharf. Once completed, it will create a direct link from Natural Bridges State Beach to the wharf. The city initially hoped to finish the segment this summer, but crews ran into issues with the nearby wastewater treatment facility’s utility crossings, along with eroded sections of the project area, said Nguyen, which required the city to reallocate some 2016 Measure D funds from the Segment 9 project in Eastside Santa Cruz.

Even with those hiccups, the city expects to complete the segment in October, but that’s not a certainty yet.

“We’ll probably have more knowledge in the next two to four weeks,” said Nguyen. “We’re definitely at a critical time with the amount of work that’s happening before determining an exact date.”

Nguyen also provided an update on arguably the biggest public works project underway in the city, the Murray Street Bridge overhaul. The goal is to strengthen the bridge with additional pilings and an improved foundation so it can better withstand earthquakes. Crews will also widen sidewalks and bike lanes to improve safety. 

Bids are due Aug. 29 for the long-awaited $50 million project, and the city plans to break ground sometime this fall. Although the project involves one of the city’s main east-west arteries, Nguyen shared good news for commuters: The current design keeps eastbound traffic open for the entire duration of the 30-month project.

“We’re feeling positive that if we get bids later this month, we’ll be able to get in contract with a contractor,” he said. “We all want to see this thing implemented and retrofitted.”

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Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:

• Tree work and guardrail work will shut down alternating lanes at various sections of Highway 9 between 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. from Monday through Friday. Those sections are between El Solyo Heights Drive and Main Street, Lower Glen Arbor Road and Arboleda Way, Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue, and Waterman Gap Junction and Route 35.

• 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 July 28. 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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