A section of the cliff behind the lighthouse at Steamer Lane collapsed into the ocean late Friday morning. The City of Santa Cruz’s public works department has posted warning signage but has not closed any part of the area yet. West Cliff Drive has seen several significant erosion events over the past few months.
West Cliff Drive’s future
Posted inLatest News
Saving West Cliff: ‘If we decide not to do anything, then you will have nothing’
Santa Cruz citizens and neighbors are summoning new energy and vision to “Save West Cliff.” The iconic 2.7-mile promenade that presents stunning, unimpeded views of the ocean has meant so much to so many for so long. With climate change now accelerating its challenges, citizens and the city now also step up their work and advocacy. Next up: a Feb. 13 “community conversation” about West Cliff Drive.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz wraps up emergency repairs to West Cliff Drive, San Lorenzo River levee
The city has finished emergency repairs to West Cliff Drive and the San Lorenzo River levee. As design plans for final repairs get underway, officials still hope to begin construction on the rest this summer.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Public Works gears up for widespread repairs, sees West Cliff as hardest-hit part of Santa Cruz
West Cliff Drive took the brunt of the damage within the City of Santa Cruz, which means that it will be the main focus of the beginning of storm recovery. However, there is plenty of work to be done around the city — and it could take quite some time to complete all the repairs.
Posted inLatest News
Santa Cruz Wharf evacuated, portions of West Cliff Drive closed as storm batters Central California coast
Police and firefighters closed and evacuated the Santa Cruz Wharf on Thursday as high waves that followed behind Wednesday’s atmospheric river threatened public safety. In Santa Cruz, West Cliff Drive between Pelton and Almar was closed as waves washed over the area, sending large rocks onto the roadway.
Posted inLatest News
Whither West Cliff? Recent collapse of path along ‘Santa Cruz’s front porch’ suggests troubling future
The West Cliff Drive we know today — Santa Cruz’s “front porch,” a surfing mecca and the site for a procession of multimillion-dollar homes/objects of envy that represent the Sunset magazine ideal of the California Good Life — is a shockingly recent development. Coastline erosion has been an ongoing constant, consistent over decades and centuries — but now we humans are adding a new wrinkle: climate change.
Posted inLatest News
Will West Cliff sidewalk collapse, continued erosion eventually pave the way for a one-way street?
The collapse of a section of sidewalk along West Cliff Drive last week shows that eroding cliffs pose a danger to roads and walkways along the coastline. Though some projects within the West Cliff Drive Adaptation and Management Plan are set for an undertaking, one idea — converting West Cliff Drive to a one-way street — is still just a concept. Could the recent cave-in change that?
Posted inPolitics & Policy
Ask Lookout: The West Cliff path near Natural Bridges remains a mess, for years it seems. What’s the holdup?
Who hasn’t seen the ongoing work/workaround on one of Santa Cruz’s most popular walkways? Good news on this one — and we’ve put together a reader’s guide/map to the public works projects coming soon to neighborhoods in Santa Cruz. What’s your question? Ask Lookout at news@lookoutlocal.com, and put Ask LO in the subject line.
Posted inCoast Life
Icons of Santa Cruz: The centurion of West Cliff Drive
Who are the people and what are the places or things that are immediately identifiable with Santa Cruz County? Our county’s longest-serving journalist, Wallace Baine, launches Lookout’s new series with a deep dive on the history of our most recognizable icon: the surfer statue.
Posted inPolitics & Policy
A one-way West Cliff Drive? Remove iceplant? Inside the plan to fix Santa Cruz’s iconic, eroding street
A plan to adapt 3-mile-long West Cliff Drive to prevent erosion and other environmental challenges won city council approval Tuesday. It lays out a litany of projects — totaling some $20 million — to be done by 2036 to keep the street safe, and also details potential work beyond that.