Date: Monday, January 5, 2026
District: 05 - Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: info-d5@dot.ca.gov
Santa Cruz County - Caltrans is preparing for four consecutive full overnight closures of a single direction of Highway 1 starting Sunday, January 11, 2026, to allow crews to remove temporary falsework on the Capitola Ave. bridge as part of the Highway 1 Auxiliary Lanes-State Park Drive to Bay Avenue/Porter Street project.
The overnight closures will be in one direction of travel and at no time will both directions of highway 1 be closed. Message and directional signals will be in place to alert travelers in advance of these closures and provide directions to available detours.
On Sunday, January 11, and Monday, January 12, travelers on Southbound highway 1 will encounter a full closure of the highway from 9 pm to 5 am.
Southbound travelers will be directed to exit southbound highway 1 at the Bay Ave/Porter Street offramp, where they will be routed along Soquel Drive, before rejoining southbound highway 1 at the Park Avenue onramp.
On Tuesday, January 13, and Wednesday, January 14, travelers on Northbound highway 1 will encounter a full closure of the highway from 9 pm to 5 am.
Northbound travelers will be directed to exit highway 1 at Park Avenue, where they will be routed along Soquel Drive and will rejoin northbound highway 1 at the Bay Avenue onramp.
Project Background:
The contractor for this $78 million project is Granite Construction of Watsonville, CA and the project is expected to be completed by Fall of 2026. Updated project information for the improvements on Highway 1 between the Bay Avenue/Porter Street and State Park Drive interchanges can be found on the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission's website at: https://www.sccrtc.org/projects/streets-highways/hwy1/bayporter-statepark/
Road information and updates can also be found on Caltrans Central Coast District 5 Social Media Platforms: X at @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.
For information about transportation projects transforming communities throughout the state, visit: Build.ca.gov.
Our crews deserve to get home safely too.
Drive slowly and carefully in work zones.
CHP Traffic Incident Information Page: https://cad.chp.ca.gov/
Traveler Information at: https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/
