By Jon Chown
More than 1,400 autos use Murphy’s Crossing Road to cut across from Riverside Drive to San Juan Road, and a lot of that is agricultural traffic. For many years the road has rather resembled the moon’s surface and a lunar lander might have been the best vehicle to transverse it, but on Sept. 18 elected officials and the business community celebrated its repair.
Speaking about the project behind a podium set up at the corner of Murphy’s Crossing and Riverside Drive, Santa Cruz County Supervisor Rafeal Lopez said the project took about seven years. Securing the funding was difficult, but well worth the effort. “This road is a lifeline that connects the community,” he said.
Murphy’s Crossing is heavily used by local farm operations, but the extremely bumpy road could bruise fruit and was certainly slow. Dennis Webb, president of the Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau, said thousands of pounds of produce, lots of ag equipment, and ag workers use it as a vital crossing.
“For such a short, two-lane, 1.3 mile drive, Murphy Crossing has been the unsung hero of agricultural commerce between Santa Cruz and Monterey counties for decades,” Webb said.
Lopez noted that the project took just 2 weeks to complete and the road was shut for just four days.
TOP PHOTO: Santa Cruz County Farm Bureau President Dennis Webb speaks about Murphy’s Crossing Road at a ceremony held Sept. 18