SANTA CRUZ — The armoring and repair of West Cliff Drive after two rough winters is moving along on schedule, albeit with a few road bumps, according to an update about the numerous construction projects happening along the scenic roadway by Santa Cruz Public Works Director Nathan Nguyen at the Santa Cruz City Council meeting Tuesday
“We have 11 sites that are actively under construction, design or permitting and that we are working through funding on,” said Nguyen. “The rough cost at this point for these 11 repair sites that we are working on is about $28 million — with a local match of roughly 11% so almost $3 million in local funds goes to support both the federal and state funding that we have received thus far.”
Nguyen spoke to progress being made at each of the sites beginning with the two infill walls at 932 and 920 West Cliff Dr., west of Columbia Street.
“They are essentially near complete,” said Nguyen. “What we are waiting on at this point on both of these sites is galvanized railing to protect the public from the edge there.”
Repairs to the Bethany Curve culvert are on track to be completed before the end of 2024. (Aric Sleeper/Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Repairs to the Bethany Culvert are on track to be completed before the end of 2024. (Aric Sleeper/Santa Cruz Sentinel)
The Public Works director said that they have been waiting on the railing for a few months and anticipate that it will arrive in the next week. However, the traffic control measures — or the one-way only for cars from Columbia Street to Woodrow Avenue — will remain in place in the near future due to the sinkhole on the pedestrian path and other damage that occurred this past winter on the 900 block, just west of the infill walls.
“The 944 sinkhole is in the construction staging area and has been filled,” said Nguyen. “We are happy to announce that the work is occurring out there. The sinkhole itself has been filled and there is some additional work with regards to protecting the bottom half of the existing retaining wall at 944 as well as at 960, which is the end of the existing retaining wall.”
The sinkhole and retaining wall repair are scheduled to be completed later this fall. On the 1000 block of the roadway, Nguyen said that the infill wall at 1016 West Cliff Dr. is essentially completed but, like the walls on the 900 block, Public Works is waiting on the galvanized railing before it is officially done.
“Next to that, we have the Bethany Culvert project,” said Nguyen. “That project is currently under construction and most of the walls have been poured. We are waiting to do the inland side of the wall as well as finalizing the design for the parapet wall or the barrier wall, which is the finished wall that sits on top of the seawall.”
Nguyen said that the Bethany Culvert project is expected to be completed this November. At 1030 West Cliff Dr., Nguyen described how damage was sustained there in both the 2023 and 2024 storms and that a sea cave extends under the roadway.
“This has been a much more challenging area here,” said Nguyen. “The team has been trying to determine the best method to essentially fill the cave and build a wall on top of that.”
Nguyen said the repair at that location is slated to be done next summer and that the traffic control measures in place there will likely remain until the cave is filled and walled off. Further west, on the 2100 block of West Cliff Drive, where damage occurred to the storm drain headwall in April, Nguyen said he hopes to have the damage repaired by the end of 2024.
Santa Cruz Public Works has been busy dealing with the construction of infill walls and other repairs to West Cliff Drive and the pedestrian path that were damaged during the last two winters. (Aric Sleeper/Santa Cruz Sentinel)
Santa Cruz Public Works has been busy dealing with the construction of infill walls and other repairs to West Cliff Drive and the pedestrian path that were damaged during the last two winters. (Aric Sleeper/Santa Cruz Sentinel)
The director then outlined the proposed relocation of the roadway on the 800 block of West Cliff Drive, where the pedestrian path has crumbled away in spots. The plan is to relocate the roadway by summer 2026 away from the cliff and into Lighthouse Field State Beach. If the path were to sustain even more damage in the coming winters, traffic control measures may be put into place.
“We want members of the public to be aware that we are actively thinking about a few different temporary traffic control plans,” said Nguyen. “One consideration is to utilize Pelton (Avenue). Another one, if there is further erosion here, is that we would have a two-way, one lane road that is either controlled by a signal or a stop sign depending on the volume and distance of the erosion that we see out there.”
Nguyen said that talks with California State Parks to move the roadway into the field is also an option, He and the Public Works team hope to put a bid out for the project design this fall.
For information, visit cityofsantacruz.com/westcliff.
Source: Santa Cruz Sentinel
