Santa Cruz to open idle rail line to pedestrians, cyclists during Murray Street Bridge closure

Santa Cruz transportation officials agreed Thursday to explore using the existing railroad next to the Murray Street Bridge as a temporary path for pedestrians and cyclists to cross the harbor during the extended bridge closure, though some fear the move could derail plans to use the tracks for a future passenger train.

The Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) approved a request by the City of Santa Cruz to access the railroad bridge adjacent to Murray Street while the bridge is closed for construction.

The city is set to develop specific plans for the temporary crossing, with a detailed report expected to come before the board in September. The bridge is undergoing a three-year retrofit and will be closed both ways through at least February, with another full closure planned later next year.

The push for alternative access comes as businesses near the closed bridge say the construction has put tremendous pressure on their day-to-day operations.

“Some of the businesses are down 20% to 40%, and we will be going out of business if we don’t get help,” said Patrice Boyle, owner of La Posta. “There’s not even a bus down there.”

Michael Spadafora, owner of Java Junction, said his sales are down 25% to 30%, and urged immediate action: “We need anything we can do, since nobody did anything prior to the start of the project that we’ve known was going to happen for 30 years.”

The item was brought to the commission by Santa Cruz Mayor Fred Keeley, District 3 County Supervisor Justin Cummings and District 1 County Supervisor Manu Koenig, and was heard in a special meeting Thursday afternoon.

“We are on an intergovernmental basis between the county, the RTC and the City of Santa Cruz, trying to address a very temporary issue brought on by a major construction project,” said Keeley. “We have the flexibility to change how it is we try to address those impacts in real time.”

Koenig, who lives near the project, said that he has seen the lack of activity in the area since the bridge’s full closure began. He added that he and his wife have visited one their favorite restaurants, La Posta, less frequently as well. He said that a temporary solution could make a “profound difference for the businesses in the area that are beloved.”

The proposal drew support from some residents at Thursday’s meeting, who described it as a good opportunity to use an otherwise unused piece of transportation infrastructure. 

However, others raised concerns that the decision to repurpose the rail into a pedestrian and cyclist path was rushed and could open the door for railbanking — removing the tracks with the possibility of reinstalling at a later time. 

The issue of railbanking has been a contentious one for local transportation planners. Proponents of the RTC’s long-planned, $4.3 billion passenger rail project have raised concerns that banking any of the tracks, even temporarily, would effectively kill plans for a future passenger train. Some residents at Thursday’s meeting advocated for a rail trolley in the area rather than a temporary path.

Andy Schiffrin, Cummings’ alternate on the commission, supported the idea of turning the tracks into a temporary path, describing the bridge closure as an emergency situation. He added that the process to bank that section of the tracks would take years and require coordinating with multiple agencies and a private company that has an easement to operate freight trains on the rail line. 

“Any attempts to make it permanent would require abandoning the freight easement, which is going to take years,” he said. “I think we’re kidding ourselves that this is a steppingstone towards doing that.”

Schiffrin added that while a rail trolley sounds like a good idea, it would be a similarly expensive and time-consuming process, and unrealistic given that a segment of Coastal Rail Trail is planned for the area in the future. “We don’t need to go in another direction for another project” he said.

The city and RTC will begin discussing logistics and figuring out what the temporary solution will look like. A more robust report is expected to come to the commission at its September meeting.

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