Public Works Projects

City Council Meeting of January 14, 2025

Contact: Danilo Cabreros, Assistant Engineer II, (831) 420-5420

Scope of Work: The work to be done consists in general of installing radar detection system at 26 signalized intersections citywide. The project will also install yellow retroreflective borders around traffic signal heads at 41 signalized intersections citywide.

Estimated Cost: $1,240,000.000

Construction: April 2025 - December 2025

Project Documents:

• Project Plan
• Project Specifications

The Bay Corridor improvements between West Cliff and California will connect existing multiuse paths, parks and open space, Bay View Elementary School, affordable senior housing, multifamily housing, and high frequency transit lines with a complete street design. The project will include separated bike lanes, new intersection configurations at California, Laguna, and West Cliff, transit boarding islands and new crossings. It's being paired with a future city paving project. View the project website for more information.

Construction: July 2026 - December 2027

Cost: $1,000,000

Contact: Claire Gallogly, Transportation Planner, cgallogly@santacruzca.gov 

The Bay Corridor improvements from California to Escalona and Nobel to High will connect existing multiuse paths, parks and open space, Bay View Elementary School, affordable senior housing, multifamily housing, and high frequency transit lines with a complete street design. The project will include separated bike lanes, transit boarding islands, and new signalized crossings at King and Mission. The project will be implemented in phases, with this section coordinated with Caltrans' Mission Street Maintenance Project.View the project website for more information.

Construction: December 2026 - December 2027

Cost: $4,000,000

Contact: Dan Estranero, Associate Professional Engineer (831) 420-5189

City Council meeting of 5/9/2023

Miguel Lizarraga, Associate Professional Engineer  (831) 420-5189

The Project consists of installing protected bikes lanes and pedestrian pathway, ADA curb ramps, roadway signs, striping and markings along Bay drive, from Escalona Drive and Nobel Drive. The project has been incorporated into the 2024 Pavement Rehabilitation Project.

Construction Timeline: Currently under construction with an expected completion of June 2025

Estimated cost: $300,000

• Plans
• Specifications

City Council meeting of 6/24/2025

DeLaveaga Golf Course – Roofing Repair Project (c402604) 

Robert Dericco, Engineering Associate (831) 420-5519

• Plans
• Specifications

Front Street is experiencing major growth from new developments and a concentration of transit service with the new Metro Transit Center. This project will add dedicated transit lanes on Front Street, add new crossings to the paseos that connect with the riverwalk, and reduce travel time delays along the corridor. The initial phase of work takes place from Cathcart Street to Laurel Street and at later phase will make improvements around the Soquel Avenue intersection on Front Street.

Construction: January 2025 - June 2026

Cost: $5,000,000

Contact: Matthew Starkey, Transportation Manager (831) 420-5182

Downtown Intersection Improvements – 90% Design Approval Plans

Build sidewalks on both sides of Laurel Street between King Street and Escalona Drive where none are currently present.

Construction: March 2026 - December 2027

Cost: $1,070,000

Contact: Matthew Starkey, Transportation Manager (831) 420-5182

The City will study the condition of existing caves and rock formations surrounding Lighthouse Point and recommend options to protect, restore, and/or relocate infrastructure along Lighthouse Point, consistent with the City’s Local Coastal Program, as part of the City’s balanced approach to coastal management. This project will inform the City’s next steps, which could include a capital investment project for Lighthouse Point once the study is complete.

Timeline: June 2025 - December 2026

Cost: $350,000

Contact: Kevin Crossley - kcrossley@santacruzca.gov; 831-420-5164

City Council meeting of 1/26/21 

Coastal Rail Trail

Ricardo Valdes, Senior Professional Engineer (831) 420-5198  

Construction of 0.8 miles of Segment 7 Coastal Rail Trail multi-use path between Bay/California streets and Pacific Avenue/Beach Street in the City of Santa Cruz, part of the Monterey Bay Sanctuary Scenic Trail Network. This project will complete 2.1 miles of the rail trail spine between Natural Bridges Drive and Pacific Avenue at the Santa Cruz Wharf.

Estimated cost $15 million.

Estimated Start/Finish: July 2022 – May 2025

• Project Webpage
• FAQs Regional Transportation Commission
• Environmental Review/CEQA
• Planning Page Project Description
• Plans
• Specifications

Matthew Starkey, Transportation Manager (831) 420-5182

Coastal Rail Trail Segments 8 and 9 Project is a 2.2-mile bicycle and pedestrian system that extends along the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line corridor, from the Beach Street/Pacific Avenue Roundabout on the west to the eastern side of 17th Avenue on the east.

In December 2022 this project was awarded $35.7 million in Active Transportation Program grant funding through the California Transportation Commission.

Estimated Construction: March 2027 - December - December 2030

More information

Joshua Spangrud, Senior Civil Engineer  (831) 420-5178   

The City of Santa Cruz Murray Street Bridge Seismic Retrofit and Barrier Replacement Project aims to enhance public safety, improve seismic resilience, and upgrade traffic barriers on the bridge. The project will install new piles, extend the existing pile caps to incorporate the new piles, construct a new line of columns, place new bent caps, and widen the bridge deck.

In addition to making the bridge more resilient to earthquakes, the project will result in a bridge deck with 6-foot-wide bike lanes and a 7.5-foot-wide sidewalk along the south (ocean) side to support a two-way pedestrian path of travel. The current elevated curbs along the bike lanes will be replaced with standard 6-inch-high curbs to improve the bicycle user experience. In addition, the current solid concrete vehicular barrier will be replaced with see-through barrier rails, allowing for better harbor and ocean views. A new County sewer force main serving Live Oak, Capitola, Soquel, and Aptos will also be upsized and included in the project

Construction Timeline: January 2025 to January 2028

Estimated Construction Cost: $50 million

Visit the project webpage for more information, including plans and specs.

Project Plans

Project Specs

Expected City Council meeting on 5/28/2024

Miguel Lizarraga, Associate Professional Engineer  (831) 420-5176

The project will enhance safety for all roadway users, pedestrians, and bicyclists. The proposed improvements in the project area include the removal of non-ADA compliant curb ramps and installation of ADA-compliant curb ramps, removal and replacement of asphalt pavement, installing missing sidewalks in specific areas, and installation of new striping that will help reduce any potential conflict between motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians. These striping improvements include, but are not limited to, shared lane markings and bike lane buffers where possible. The project Area includes the following streets:

• Swift St (Mission St to Grandview St)
• Grandview St (Swift St to Escalona Dr)
• Escalona Dr (Grandview St to Bay St)
• Escalona Dr (Walnut Ave to Highland Ave)
• Bay St (Escalona Dr to Nobel Dr)
• Highland Ave (Mission St to Spring St)
• California St (Walnut Ave to Laurel)

Estimated cost: $6,000,000

Estimated construction timeline: January 2025 - July 2025

2024.06.18 - 2024 Pavement Rehabilitation Project Specifications

2024.06.18 - 2024 PAVEMENT REHABILITATION PLANS

Project Locations

The General Engineering and Transportation Engineering divisions meet annually to review roadways planned for pavement rehabilitation and identify where the priorities of pavement rehabilitation and transportation network improvements overlap. The Prospect Heights and Harvey West neighborhoods met that criteria for the 2025 project.

Prospect Heights and Morrissey Blvd. (View Striping Plan)

In Prospect Heights, the clockwise loop of Pacheco Avenue, Prospect Heights, and Morrissey Boulevard to LaFonda Avenue were identified for the project. The transportation improvements are focused on school access to DeLaveaga Elementary School and Harbor High School.

The initial design eliminated parking on Pacheco Avenue between Morrissey Blvd. and Allerton Street to create a bike lane to connect to the bike boulevard on Allerton Ave. and back connection to DeLaveaga Elementary School. This section was refined to restore parking just after the Morrissey Blvd. intersection and remove the bike lanes to be replaced with shared lane markings. This decision was supported by additional review of vehicle volumes and speed data.

On Morrissey Blvd. the initial design removed parking on the southern side of Morrissey Blvd. from south of Holway Drive to Prospect Heights, and both sides between Heather Court and Prospect Heights in order to connect the missing segment of bike lanes. The refined design restores parking on the southern side of Morrissey Blvd. north of Heather Court. Parking was chosen on the north side of Morrissey Blvd. because it provides the most potential parking stalls. In front of the Elementary School, parking was eliminated to improve visibility of the driveway and crosswalk near Heather Court. This decision was informed by an overnight parking count.

Harvey West (View Striping Plan)

In Harvey West, the project will include Encinal Street, Dubois Street, Harvey West Boulevard, and Coral Street between Harvey West Boulevard and River Street. The pavement rehabilitation treatment is expected to be cold-in-place recycling, a treatment that reuses existing materials in the roadway. The transportation improvements are focused on bicycle and pedestrian access along Encinal Street.

Project Timeline

• The project was presented at the District 1 Open House on October 24, 2024 and approved at the Transportation and Public Works Commission on November 18, 2024.
• Neighbors provided additional feedback and requested a neighborhood forum to review the Prospect Heights component. The striping plans were updated based on input from neighbors and will be presented at a public open house on March 4, 2025.
• Community feedback will be considered and incorporated into a final revision of the striping plans after the open house.
• Construction dates will be determined by available funding and staffing in early 2026 after approval by City Council (date TBD).  

Project Open House

A Prospect Heights and Morrissey Blvd. Paving Project open house was held on March 4, 2025 from 5-6:30 p.m. at DeLaveaga Elementary School. Community members were invited to meet staff from the city’s Public Works team, review project plans, and provide feedback.

Project Contact

Miguel Lizarraga, Associate Professional Engineer  (831) 420-5176

This project is managed by the Soquel Creek Water District.

Construction details including a project map are constantly updated at: www.soquelcreekwater.org/PWSpipeline.

Construction noise concerns can be reported to (831) 216-6142. For other concerns, you can call (831) 475-8500 x148 or email PWSConstruction@soquelcreekwater.org.

This Soquel Creek Water District project will provide a reliable supplemental water supply for the community and prevent seawater from contaminating groundwater. It includes the installation of about eight miles of pipeline under various streets between Santa Cruz and Aptos. These pipelines will carry recycled water from the regional Santa Cruz Wastewater Treatment Facility to the upcoming Chanticleer Water Purification Center in the Live Oak area; and, will carry purified water from the new Center to three Seawater Intrusion Prevention (SWIP) wells where it will be pumped into the groundwater basin.

Conveyance project construction contract: $34,562,730 

Read more at www.soquelcreekwater.org/PWSoverview

Project Plans

Project Specifications

Install pathway lighting and rehabilitation the path on the San Lorenzo River Levee from Laurel St to the river mouth.

Construction: March 2026 - December 2027

Cost: $1,495,000

Contact: Matthew Starkey, Transportation Manager (831) 420-5182

Implementation of USACE required burrowing rodent population management and burrow hole repairs on the San Lorenzo River Levees.

Cost: $300,000

Construction: July 2025 - September 2025

Contact: Filipina Warren (831) 420 5442

City Council meeting of 6/24/2025

Soquel/Front and Locust Street Garage Elevator Repairs (c401509 and c402106) 

Robert Dericco, Engineering Associate (831) 420-5519

• Elevator Condition Report 
• Specifications

Scott Glucs, Associate Professional Engineer, (831) 420-5086

This project will confirm that FEMA has determined that the San Lorenzo River levee system meets the design, data, and documentation requirements of 44 CFR 65.10; it therefore can be shown on a a Flood Insurance Rate Map (FIRM) as reducing the base flood hazard. This determination is based on a submittal, by or on behalf of a community, which includes 44 CFR 65.10—compliant data and documentation, certified by a registered professional engineer. 

For more information, visit our San Lorenzo River Levee Projects webpage. 

City Council Meeting on 6/28/2022

Scott Glucs, Associate Professional Engineer, (831) 420-5086

Reduce risk of flooding in the downtown area by rehabilitating Stormwater Pump Station No. 1 and constructing a new pump station at Soquel Avenue.

Estimated Cost: $15,000,000

Estimated Construction: January 2022 - January 2029

Dan Estranero, Associate Professional Engineer (831) 420-5189

This project proposes a 10‐12 foot wide multi‐use trail along Swanton Blvd, from West Cliff to Delaware, and along Delaware to Natural Bridges Drive. Improved lighting, curb ramps, islands, signs and striping are proposed at the intersection. This project fills a missing gap between West Cliff Drive and Mission Street Extension, providing improved and safer access to many public, commercial and residential activity centers. This multi‐use trail is adjacent to Natural Bridges State Park and State Parks is supportive of the project.

In December 2022 this project was awarded $2.97 million in Active Transportation Program grant funding through the California Transportation Commission.

Estimated construction date: July 2026 - November 2026

Project Concept Plans

Traffic Calming Pilot Program 

In September 2023, the City of Santa Cruz adopted a Traffic Calming Toolkit. The aim of the toolkit is to have a process to evaluate and implement neighborhood traffic calming projects citywide. The Traffic Calming Pilot program is funded in the current year budget as a pilot. 

What is Traffic Calming 

Managing safe and efficient streets is an ongoing concern within many communities. Traffic calming measures provide tools for agencies to implement physical measures that help to manage vehicle traffic on neighborhood streets. Traffic calming plans includes measures which play crucial roles in creating safer, more livable, and sustainable communities.  

By implementing appropriate traffic calming measures, the City of Santa Cruz can create more people-friendly spaces that prioritize the needs and safety of all road users. The aim is to create more pleasant environment for everyone in the community. 

Example traffic calming treatments include speed humps, bulb-outs, slow turn wedges, and traffic circles. View the Traffic Calming Toolkit for more details.  

Process

The City of Santa Cruz issued a Call for Projects and received 334 applications for traffic calming. Submittals were evaluated using the Ranking and Eligibility matrix in the adopted Traffic Calming Toolkit.  

With the available budget, three locations were selected from the 334 submitted applications to proceed to design. These locations ranked high on the matrix and were determined to be feasible with the tools available in the Toolkit.  

Traffic Calming Locations

• Poplar Avenue at Hammond Avenue and Melrose Avenue: A red curb and bollards will be added on the northeast corner of Poplar/Hammond to increase sight distance and improve safety at Branciforte Middle School Entrance. At Poplar/Melrose, the proposal is to add red curb on all approaches of intersection and bollards on eastern leg of Melrose to increase sight distance at intersection. Additionally, a median with turn wedges is proposed to slow turning vehicles at the intersection.
• Seabright Avenue between Pine Street and Windsor Street: The plan adds red curb per the statewide daylighting law (parking prohibition), a pinch point south of James to narrow the roadway and slow traffic, and a median and new striping on the curve between Windham and Windsor to slow vehicular traffic. The series of interventions are expected to work together to slow speeding traffic along the corridor.
• Western Drive between Echo Street and Yosemite Street: Implement striping changes and medians to create narrower lanes and a series of chicanes. This includes the addition of red curbs at some locations. These treatments are designed to achieve speed reduction.

Schedule

City staff will undertake an informal bidding process for the improvements and implement the locations that fit within the approved pilot budget of $75,000. If there are not enough funds available to complete the above three locations, portions of the proposal will be deferred until another project can implement the work. The work is anticipated to take place during the summer of 2025.

Project Documents

• Traffic Calming Toolkit
• Project Plans
• Invitation for Bids, Specifications and Contract Documents

The City and County are partnering to add a fiber network for traffic signal interconnect along Soquel Avenue and Water Street from La Fonda to Pacific Avenue. The new signal interconnect allows both jurisdictions to cost-effectivly manage intersections remotley and reduce travel times along their respective corridors.

Construction: January 2025 - August 2025

Cost: $700,000

Dan Estranero, Associate Professional Engineer (831) 420-5189

City Council Meeting of 6/28/2022

Katie Stewart, Senior Professional Engineer (831) 420-5442   

The City of Santa Cruz Wastewater Treatment Facility, originally built in 1928, has been expanded and upgraded. The City has contracted with Brown and Caldwell to design crucial repairs and improvements to gaining infrastructure at the Wastewater Treatment Facility. Brown and Caldwell will provide consulting and engineering support services to facilitate several capital investment projects at the WWTF. These projects include but are not limited to the following:

• Headworks and Influent Infrastructure (see separate listing)
• Trickling Filter Mobilized Drive
• High Strength Food Waste Implementation Study
• Process Mechanical Upgrades for Secondary Blowers and Interstage Pumps
• Electrical Wiring replacement at the Influent Pump Station Area
• Pre-Aeration/Grit Area Structural Upgrades and Condition Assessments
• PLC Instrumentation Upgrades
• Effluent Pump and Valve Upgrades
• Miscellaneous Pump and 2W Upgrades
• Piping Replacement in Secondary Treatment
• General Electrical Wiring Repairs
• Effluent Pump Station PLC Upgrade and SCADA Integration 
• Pre-Aeration/Grit Area Electrical Upgrades
• Other miscellaneous rehabilitation projects

Estimated construction: June 2022 - ongoing

The Wastewater Treatment Facility’s electrical distribution system has reached the end of its service life and needs to be replaced. The new system will improve resiliency with a complete main distribution loop and modernize emergency standby generators.

Estimated Cost: $60,000,000

Construction Timeline: 2027-2029

Project Contact: Katie Stewart - kstewart@santacruzca.gov; 831-420-5442

City Council Meeting  of 6/28/2022

Chris Nutley, Engineering Associate and Phone (831) 420 - 5160 

The regional Santa Cruz Wastewater Treatment Facility (WWTF) serves over 130,000 residents and treats an average wastewater flow of 10 million gallons per day from City and County Collection Systems. City flow enters the WWTF through the Headworks Area. The WWTF was originally built in 1928 and the Headworks is over 55 years old. Deterioration of mechanical and structural components of the Headworks area was identified in the WWTF Infrastructure and Major Equipment Study as the No.1 priority project. Further condition assessment work identified deficiencies in the headworks vault, 60-inch influent pipe, influent box, meter vault, influent pump station wet well, pumps, motors, and bar screen structure. 

Project cost: $22,000,000

Estimated construction: February 2025 to December 2026

Development of a regional masterplan for the Wastewater Treatment Facility to address future treatment and growth needs.

Estimated Cost: $1,900,000 

Construction Timeline: Fall 2024 - Fall 2026

Project Contact: Kevin Crossley - kcrossley@santacruzca.gov; 831-420-5164

Katie Stewart, Senior Professional Engineer (831) 420-5442   

As part of the Soquel Creek Water District’s Pure Water Soquel project, a Title 22 treatment facility is being built at the City of Santa Cruz Wastewater Facility. The Title 22 facility will provide over 200,000 gallons per day of water for onsite use at the wastewater facility. In the future that same facility may provide water for offsite use.

Cost estimate for the entire Pure Water Soquel project including all of the construction elements outlined at www.soquelcreekwater.org/184/Pure-Water-Soquel is $9 million.

Estimated completion: January 2026

Water Street from Branciforte Ave to Poplar Ave was identified in the Local Roadway Safety Plan and Active Transportation Plan for safety and bicycling improvements. Separated bike lanes are funded by a Highway Safety Improvement Program Grant to achieve those results.

Construction: September 2025 - December 2029

Cost: $416,000

Contact: Dan Estranero, Associate Professional Engineer (831) 420-5189

Miguel Lizarraga, Associate Professional Engineer, (831) 420-5176

The project will rehabilitate the Wets Cliff multi-use path. Work will include repaving failing sections of the path and surface sealing the entire length of the path from Swanton to David Way to increase the lifespan of the asphalt path.

Estimated cost: $250,000

Estimated construction: August 2025 - September 2025

2024.06.18 - Project Specifications

2024.06.18 - WEST CLIFF PATH REHABILITATION PLANS

Joshua Spangrud, Senior Civil Engineer (831) 420-5178

This project is building concrete infill walls where specific portions of West Cliff Drive were impacted during the January 2023 storms. In other areas, large quantities of rip-rap were displaced and new rip-rap will be placed to strengthen the resistance to erosion.

The construction of four infill walls continues with Granite Construction as our contractor. Granite will continue working at the following sites as the walls are being built up to their final elevation:

• 920 West Cliff - complete
• 932 West Cliff - complete
• 944 West Cliff - complete
• 960 West Cliff - complete
• 1016 West Cliff  - complete
• 1030 West Cliff - expected completion date: June 2025

Watch drone construction footage of these three sites taken on 12/6/23; of 920 & 932 taken on 12/11; of 1016 taken on 12/11.

During construction, expect roadway conditions to change, including temporary detours and full closures. The roadway configuration and detours are subject to change due to multiple factors, including roadway conditions or construction activity. Detour signs will be in place.  

These projects are part of the West Cliff Drive Adaptation Plan.

The latest plans and specs can be found on the project’s Bidding Information page.

See more West Cliff communications and sign up for email at: January 2023 West Cliff Storm Damage and Temporary Traffic Controls.

The January 2023 storms caused significant damage to areas of West Cliff Drive. The storm caused pathway failures in multiple locations, as well as significant damage to signage, fencing, and other infrastructure. This damage will take time to fix. In the interim, the City of Santa Cruz is implementing temporary measures to increase safety and maintain access.

Temporary traffic controls will be removed in June 2025.

Project page

The 800 West Cliff Drive Road Realignment Design project aims to reroute a 400 foot section of West Cliff Drive inland near a vulnerable portion of the coastline that was damaged in the December 2023 and January 2024 storm events. The new road alignment would be located on property that is currently part of Lighthouse Field State Beach Park. The added road set back would provide a buffer for the road to account for the anticipated natural erosion of the area based on 50 and 100 year erosion models.

Construction: May 2026 - December 2026

Cost: $1,800,000

Contact: Miguel Lizarraga, Associate Professional Engineer, (831) 420-5176