South Santa Cruz 9 Capital Preventive Maintenance Project
Project Description
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) proposes to preserve 14.668 lane miles of existing Class 3 Flexible Pavement on State Route 9 in Santa Cruz County from the intersection with State Route 1 (Cabrillo Highway) to El Solyo Heights Drive in the community of Felton. The project would use a Capital Preventive Maintenance strategy including but not limited to dig outs, cold planing followed by placement of Hot Mix Asphalt to avoid decreasing the vertical clearance, upgrading guardrail to Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware standards, repairing or replacing culverts as needed, replacing traffic census stations, replacing sign panels, and upgrading curb ramps to Americans with Disabilities Act standards where applicable. In addition, through coordination with the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, the project includes some pedestrian and bicyclist improvements outlined in the Highway 9/San Lorenzo Valley Complete Streets Corridor Plan and the San Lorenzo Valley Schools Access Study. These elements include Americans with Disabilities Act curb ramp upgrades, new sidewalks, curb extensions at selected crosswalks, remodeling of transit stops, a new crosswalk, upgraded crosswalks using high-visibility striping, modification of traffic signals/phasing, the addition of a two-way left-turn center lane between Graham Hill Road and Hihn Street in Felton, striping of new bike boxes, restriping existing intersection guidelines, and creating or upgrading pedestrian islands. This project would require work off the paved roadway, trenching, grading, and other ground disturbance, access roads, temporary construction easements, drainage work/alterations, night work, utility relocation, and tree and vegetation removal. All the proposed improvements are at spot locations (see Section 1.4.1, Build Alternative). State Route 9 geometric features (horizontal alignment, vertical profile, superelevation, sight distance, and cross slope) are anticipated to remain unchanged.
Project Benefits
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to preserve and extend the life of the existing pavement, restore drainages in poor condition to maintain the functionality of culverts, maintain an efficient Transportation System, and upgrade guardrail and sign panels to current standards. Additional project objectives include improving spot locations in the pedestrian path for Americans with Disabilities Act compliance, improving multimodal access, enhancing crosswalk visibility and pedestrian accessibility as well as access to transit, and improving bicycle facilities and traffic operations.
Need
This project is needed because the pavement condition within the project limits exhibits minor surface distress and unacceptable ride quality, which, if left uncorrected, will deteriorate to a major roadway rehabilitation need. Two existing temporary traffic loops need to be upgraded to a permanent traffic census station to maintain the State Route 9 traffic information that is currently collected. Six large and 34 small sign panels in the project limits do not meet federal requirements for retro-reflectivity and need to be upgraded to current standards. Five existing culverts have been identified and are suffering from damaged inverts, shape loss, joint separation, and undermined backfill that could potentially cause the roadway to fail in the future if not addressed. The existing Metal Beam Guardrail between post mile 0.046 and post mile 7.500 does not meet current Manual for Assessing Safety Hardware standards and needs to be upgraded to meet the current standards. Thirty-nine curb ramps have been identified within the project limits that do not comply with current Americans with Disabilities Act standards. In addition, limited multimodal access has been identified within the project limits. Improvements are needed to address pedestrian and bicycle access issues, such as a lack of sidewalks, crosswalks, and bike lanes.
Estimated Funding Breakdown
| Funding Source | Funding Amount |
|---|---|
| Local | $1,800,000 |
| State | $2,113,692 |
| Federal | $16,314,308 |
| Construction Cost | $20,228,000 |
Proposed Project Schedule
| Process | Date |
|---|---|
| Final Environmental document to be completed | Spring 2025 |
| Right-of-way acquisition to be completed | Fall 2026 |
| Design to be completed | Spring 2026 |
| Advertise | Spring 2027 |
| Construction to begin | Summer 2027 |
| Construction to be completed | Summer 2029 |
Project Contact
Kelli Hill, Project Manager
Phone: 805-458-3162
Email: kelli.hill@dot.ca.gov
Matt C. Fowler, Environmental Branch Chief
Phone: 805-779-0793
Email: sr9_santacruzcapm@dot.ca.gov
District 5 Public Information Office
Phone: 805-549-3138
Email: info-d5@dot.ca.gov
Documents
Accessibility Assistance: Caltrans makes every attempt to ensure our documents are accessible. Due to variances between assistive technologies, there may be portions of this document which are not accessible. Where documents cannot be made accessible, we are committed to providing alternative access to the content. Should you need additional assistance, please contact us at (916) 654-2852 or visit https://dot.ca.gov/request-ada-compliant-documents.
- Initial Study with Proposed Mitigated Negative Declaration and Section 4(f) Evaluation - January, 2025 (PDF 3.1 MB)
- Public Notice, English (PDF 90 KB)
- Public Notice, Spanish (PDF 128 KB)
- Fact Sheet, English (PDF 74 KB)
- Fact Sheet, Spanish (PDF 87 KB)
- Notice of Completion (PDF 171 KB)
News and Events
Open Forum Hearing
Date: January 15, 2025
Time: 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Location: Felton Community Hall
Title VI Information
The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) assures that no person shall, on the basis of race, color, or national origin, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be otherwise subjected to discrimination under any program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance, as required by Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, as amended, the Civil Rights Restoration Act of 1987, and Federal Executive Order 12898 (Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations).
Caltrans will make every effort to ensure nondiscrimination in all of its programs and activities, whether they are federally funded or not, and that services and benefits are fairly distributed to all people, regardless of race, color, or national origin. In addition, Caltrans will facilitate meaningful participation in the transportation planning process in a nondiscriminatory manner.
Title VI Brochures
Title VI brochures in various languages