By Zach Friend, Supervisor, Second District
Zach Friend
Even as much of the County’s focus in on the health and economic response to COVID-19, the County is still maintaining general operations. One of the areas that will see some noticeable work this summer will be on local road work and infrastructure projects ━ specifically Measure D and State Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) funded projects and storm damage projects.
Which areas will be repaired under Measure D and STIP funds?
Measure D is a half-cent sales tax measure approved in late 2016 for transportation projects. Depending upon how much sales tax is collected, approximately $900,000 a year is available for local road projects in our district.
This year, a major repair in Corralitos and a number of residential roads in Seacliff will be addressed using Measure D and STIP funds.
In Corralitos, the long-awaited road work for Pioneer and Varni will occur soon. Specifically, repairs will be done to Pioneer Road between Amesti Road and Green Valley and Varni Road between Corralitos Road and Amesti.
This heavily used route is used by residents, agriculture businesses and bicyclists. The funding became possible after an item I supported at the Regional Transportation Commission that changed funding from a competitive process to a formula basis — ensuring that the unincorporated areas in the County would receive more road funds than previously provided.
In Seacliff, a number of residential streets will be repaired as a result of this year’s Measure D allocation. Specifically, the following streets will be completed this summer:
- Seacliff Drive between Santa Clara Avenue and Broadway.
- Santa Cruz Avenue between Broadway and Seacliff.
- San Benito Avenue between Seacliff and Seacliff (the loop).
- East Street between Santa Cruz Avenue and Center.
- Valencia Avenue between East Street and Seacliff.
- Santa Clara Avenue between Seacliff Drive and Center Avenue.
- El Camino Del Mar between Seacliff Drive and Center Avenue.
What about storm-related damage?
Some significant progress has been made on storm damage repairs in the last few months. The significant damage on upper Valencia (by Flume) has gone to bid and will be under construction soon. This more than $3 million project is funded by federal emergency repairs.
The lower Valencia damage design and environmental is nearly complete with just right-of-way acquisition to finish. Once done, that project will go to bid with road work expected next year. Multiple projects on Highland Way were awarded contracts in late spring with construction planned soon.
Projects on Trout Gulch and Hazel Dell are also completing environmental and/or right-of-way acquisitions with most of those projects going to construction next year. The storm damage project on McGregor was already completed in the spring.
How do I get more information about the road repairs?
You can visit the project website at santacruzcounty resurfacingproject.info for more information. In general, up to date information on County maintained roads in Santa Cruz County is available online at www.sccroadclosure.org.
Where can I get the latest information on COVID-19 including cases, the health order and reopening information?
The County has a live, staffed hotline — open every day between the hours of 8 am and 6 pm. Call (831) 454-4242.
I’m also maintaining regular updates on social media at www.facebook.com/supervisorfriend and during the shelter-in-place order I’m hosting weekly tele-townhalls with County and community leaders on Tuesday nights from 6-7 pm. The call in information for the town halls is 454-2222 with the Meeting ID: 145384#.
Lastly, the County Health’s website, www.santacruzhealth.org has up-to-date information on cases, demographics, provider and business guidance and more. Guidance is changing from the state on a regular basis and the County’s new order aligns our timeline for most re-openings with the state’s order.
As is the case throughout the state, the County can take a stricter approach to reopening should local conditions warrant it or the state can deny a county’s request to move into a next stage if conditions change.
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As always, if you have any questions or concerns please do feel free to reach out to me. You can always call me at 454-2200.