Quick Take
About 2 miles of Green Valley Road in Watsonville will be getting a bicycle/pedestrian trail of its own, perhaps as early as the end of February 2025. The goal is to reduce bicycle and pedestrian accidents on a well-traveled road with a history of safety concerns.
It might not have quite the grand vision of the Coastal Rail Trail, but Green Valley Road in Watsonville will get its own bike and pedestrian path between Holohan Road and Casserly Road — and it could be completed as early as late February 2025.
The approximately $8.4 million project will replace a rundown dirt trail alongside about 2 miles of the roadway with a two-way multiuse trail allowing safer travel for cyclists and pedestrians on the busy stretch north of Freedom Boulevard and south of Monte Vista Christian School. It will also include five new Santa Cruz Metro bus stops and shelters. Construction began early last week, with work hours from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on weekdays.
The improvements are another example of Santa Cruz County’s ongoing efforts to bolster and create alternative and active transportation infrastructure. The rail trail is moving forward in several locations, while the Highway 1 expansion project includes both new bus-on-shoulder lanes and bicycle/pedestrian overcrossings. Santa Cruz Metro is in the midst of its own network overhaul, aiming to double ridership and significantly improve the system’s efficiency.
County Community Development & Infrastructure spokesperson Tiffany Martinez said staff chose this area for a new path because it has never had safe infrastructure for walking or biking. She said that between 2017 and 2021, there were five reported bike and pedestrian collisions, and, beyond safety, this project provides an opportunity to connect Watsonville residents to the northern unincorporated parts of South County and vice versa.
“The Green Valley Road corridor sees heavy traffic both by vehicles and multimodal users, but of course, it isn’t in the best condition to support safe travel for pedestrians and cyclists,” she said. “We’ve been aware of that and this has been a priority for us to really take on.”
Along with the trail, Martinez expects that crews will install some landscaping for beautification and to provide a buffer between the cars and the bicycle/pedestrian trail. She also said that, luckily, commuters that frequent Green Valley Road should expect to experience only minor delays, like a partial single-lane closure from time to time.
Given the generally small project area, Martinez said that the county is shooting for a completion date of Feb. 28, 2025 — but as always, that will depend on the weather.
“We’ll be working through the rainy season again, so that could delay the project several weeks to several months,” she said.
Regardless, Martinez said she believes the results will be well worth it: “We’re really happy to see this project get completed and reduce the number of accidents that have happened on that road historically. This is one that we’re really proud of.”
Latest news
Check out our Carmageddon road delay list here. This week, pay particular attention to:
- Tree work, drainage work, and paving 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 Woodland Hills Resort and Irwin Way, Marshall Creek Bridge and Alba Road, Pool Drive and Camp Campbell Entrance, and Waterman Gap Junction and Route 35.
- 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.