Quick Takes
Santa Cruzans, particularly those who ride the buses, have probably noticed new stops and bus operations around Front Street, River Street and Soquel Avenue. It’s all part of the two-year changes accompanying the Pacific Station North project, which is slated to begin construction next week.
Front Street and the entire downtown Santa Cruz block surrounding Trader Joe’s, Wells Fargo Bank and the River Street parking garage looked different last week. There was less street parking, more buses, and people at bus stops you might not have recognized.
That will all be a familiar sight soon, as the area will look that way for the next two years. During that time, Pacific Station North will go up on the site of the longtime downtown Metro depot between Pacific Avenue and Front Street; it will include 128 affordable units and a new bus and transit hub facing Front Street. John Urgo, director of planning and development for Santa Cruz Metro, said the project is expected to break ground during the week of Feb. 26 and take two years to complete.
Urgo told Lookout late last year how Metro’s temporary operations would work for the coming few years.
Operations will run a block north on Front Street, in the area bounded by Soquel Avenue, Front Street and River Street surrounding Trader Joe’s and CVS Pharmacy. The agency will reserve street parking along the block of Front Street from outside the shopping center and continuing alongside the River Front Garage and Wells Fargo for bus parking during layovers, which are the breaks that buses and operators take between runs.
The Trader Joe’s/CVS parking lot will stay fully open and accessible to the public.
Metro’s existing stop on Front Street near the back door of Trader Joe’s is now its hub for routes serving Watsonville and the San Lorenzo Valley. The stop on Soquel Avenue in front of CVS will be the home for regional service like Highway 17 routes. Service to UC Santa Cruz will run from a new stop near the corner of South River Street and Soquel Avenue where the bridge begins. Metro’s customer service office will operate out of a storefront next to Oswald.
The buses will use the street parking from 6 a.m. to midnight and will stay overnight in the Metro yard off Highway 9 north of downtown.
As a result of all these changes, South River Street will become a one-way street going southbound so buses can use the northbound lane.
Bus operator trainee Brian Ramos said that for the next two weeks, 16 Metro staff members will be stationed in the area directing people to their correct stops as they get used to the new operations.
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
The Pure Water Soquel water purification project continues to move forward, and its current work will affect parts of Laurel Street in Santa Cruz. The installation of an architectural cover for the piping along the Laurel Street bridge will continue this week between 7 a.m. and 4 p.m., shutting down one lane of westbound Laurel Street.
The PV Water College Lake Project will shut down one eastbound lane on Highway 129 between Sakata Lane and Rodriguez Street in South County. Crews are installing a 6-mile water supply pipeline along the road.
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, and California Drive/Middle Road and Alba Road.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.