Quick Take
Following a seven-month closure that restricted all vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian traffic across the Murray Street Bridge, the city plans to reopen the bridge one-way for cars and bikes, with full pedestrian access in both directions at the end of January, about a month ahead of the original February timeline.
After closing to all traffic last June, the Murray Street Bridge, which connects Santa Cruz’s Seabright neighborhood to the Santa Cruz Harbor, will reopen to one-way traffic at the end of January, the city announced on Tuesday.
That’s several weeks sooner than the original reopening timeline in February, which may bring some relief to businesses in the area that have struggled during the closure. One lane will reopen to cars and bicyclists, and two-way pedestrian access across the bridge will be restored, according to a media release.
Some questions remain. The city is still deciding which way bridge traffic would flow — eastbound toward 7th Avenue, or westbound toward Seabright — and the exact date the bridge will reopen.
The city is considering other options to keep traffic flowing in the area, including temporary traffic control pilots and modifying traffic patterns depending on the time of day. City staff are still assessing the feasibility, operations and funding for this, according to the release.
“Staff are finalizing the operational details for the partial reopening, including traffic operations for the single open lane, and expect to share additional information within the next week,” city representative Ashley Hussey told Lookout on Tuesday. “The city will communicate how the single lane will operate, including whether travel will be one-way or alternate with traffic control.”
The long-term project will make critical updates to the bridge, but when the city closed the bridge to westbound traffic in March 2025, followed by a full closure to all traffic last June, it disrupted a vital thoroughfare across the city. The impacts were significant, from traffic congestion to steep losses for nearly businesses in the Santa Cruz Harbor and Seabright neighborhoods.
The partial reopening marks an end to the longest full closure in the three-year Murray Street Bridge Seismic Retrofit and Barrier Replacement Project. The next full closure is scheduled to take place from June through August while construction crews relocate a regional wastewater pipeline, followed by a one week closure in February 2027 and two weeks in December 2027.
The project remains on schedule, and will be completed in January 2028, said the city.
Have something to say? Lookout welcomes letters to the editor, within our policies, from readers. Guidelines here.