Carmageddon: Work, erosion continues on West Cliff Drive as next 5 years begin to take shape

The City of Santa Cruz Public Works department is focusing on several projects for West Cliff Drive after the Santa Cruz City Council approved a five-year vision for the road earlier this month — even as recovery work trudges on and new erosion continues to pop up.

At its March 11 meeting, the city council approved the five-year roadmap that the city has worked on since the council approved the 50-year vision for the scenic coastal road last spring. The city has held multiple public input sessions to ask residents to prioritize immediate projects that work toward a more resilient West Cliff Drive.

WEST CLIFF DRIVE’S FUTURE: Read Lookout’s continuing coverage here

The roadmap singles out five projects: new signage and design standards for landscaping, retaining walls, railings and more; a study to figure out the best options for funding future infrastructure projects; a monitoring network to track changes in the coastal landscape; slope stabilization and repair along the coastline; and the relocation of a 400-foot section of the street and pedestrian path about 50 feet inland to deal with coastal erosion.

City public works director Nathan Nguyen said the goal is that the city can work on all of these projects and “not just start them, but hopefully implement them.”

The top two priorities on the roadmap are the slope stabilization and cliff armoring, called the “revetment repair project,” and relocating the roadway and path near Lighthouse Field State Beach. While the revetment repair is not considered an emergency, relocating the roadway is, and Nguyen said he expects work to begin on it this year.

Since the project involves shifting the road 50 feet into a portion of Lighthouse Field, a state beach, the city had to consult with California State Parks and the California Coastal Commission. Nguyen said the city has had positive initial discussions with State Parks staff and sees the project as a good opportunity to work with state agencies on what responding to coastal erosion can look like.

Nguyen said the city plans to get started on design concepts and the permitting process this year and early next year. He added that if all goes smoothly, the city could begin construction as early as summer 2026, but 2027 is more likely. 

“We can hopefully build [the roadway] far enough back that we’re going beyond the 100-year erosion line,” he said. “We’re totally doing that based on the best science we have today, and the hope is that we wouldn’t have to continue to do hard armoring.”

As the city looks toward the future of West Cliff, it still has ongoing emergency work to contend with and even more signs of erosion popping up along already damaged areas.

Nguyen said that the Bethany Curve culvert project is largely complete, but that a site just to the west of the culvert is still under construction. That site involves a sea cave running far beneath the roadway, which is now mostly filled in, but crews are still working on reconstructing the road and path, and installing railings. Nguyen said the city is shooting for an April or May completion for that project, at which point West Cliff Drive west of Woodrow Avenue can be reopened to two-way traffic.

However, the section between Woodrow Avenue and Columbia Street, which was closed for nearly two years after the storm deluge in early 2023, is seeing damage yet again. Last Monday, Nguyen said the city installed a pedestrian detour off the path due to more cracking in the pathway. He said crews will need to keep the detour in place for now so that they can evaluate the location further, but the eastbound lane could need to be shut down once again.

“It’s possible. We’ve had a good three or four months where we’ve been able to have more of a normal transportation flow through that particular part of West Cliff,” he said. “We’re working on getting a design team together to go out there and start doing some additional investigation work.”

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

• Striping work will prompt overnight closures of northbound and southbound Highway 1 off-ramps at Park Avenue, Bay/Porter and State Park Drive between 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. from Sunday through Friday.

• An emergency sewer project in Soquel Village will cause intermittent lane closures and potential turn restrictions at the intersection of Daubenbiss Avenue and Soquel Drive on weekdays between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. The project is slated for completion on April 11.

• Striping work will cause overnight closures of northbound and southbound Highway 1 between Bay Avenue and State Park Drive from Sunday through Friday between 9 p.m. and 6:30 a.m.

• Tree work, slope repair, and vegetation control will close down sections of Highway 9 from Monday through Thursday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. Those sections are between Twin Gates and Russell Avenue, Prospect Avenue and Lorenzo Avenue, and Mcgaffigan Mill Road and Mitchell Drive.

• Tree work will shut down one lane of southbound Highway 17 between Sugarloaf Road and Crescent Drive between 10 a.m. and noon from Monday through Friday.

• In Watsonville, a single lane on Green Valley Road from Holohan Road to Casserly Road is closed for the Multi-Use Trail Improvement Project. Lane closures occur from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday. Additionally, a single lane is closed on Buena Vista Drive and Ranport Road for overhead tree trimming on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., causing potential delays.

• An emergency sewer replacement project at the roundabout at the intersection of 5th Avenue and East Cliff Drive will block off some parking along both streets and cause some traffic delays. The work will take place between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. from Monday through Friday.

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