Neighborhood Projects: Direct Allocations to Cities and County
The existing local street and road, bicycle and pedestrian systems are critical to the everyday movement of people within the county. Much of the local roadway system is aging, has potholes and is in need of maintenance and repair. Deferred maintenance costs more in the long run, resulting in an exponential increase in the cost of maintaining the roadway system.
The largest portion of Measure D funding (30%) goes directly to local cities and the county to maintain our existing infrastructure and provide improved facilities for bicyclists and pedestrians. Annually, local jurisdictions are required to update a Five-Year Plan of Measure D projects at a public hearing. Public participation is encouraged in the development of project lists, which are due to the RTC by June 30 each year.
FY 2017-18 Annual Funding Estimate
| Jurisdiction | Estimate |
| Unincorporated County | $2,628,820 |
| City of Watsonville | $774,170 |
| City of Scotts Valley | $249,672 |
| City of Santa Cruz | $1,157,040 |
| City of Capitola | $286,471 |
Annually, each entity is required to update their plans via a public hearing and, after the first year, provide information about projects delivered and an audit of funds expended. These materials will be available on the RTC website.
Measure D – Regional Projects
The Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) is responsible for regional projects funded by Measure D. Click a tab to see specific project plans for the first five years, as approved by the Regional Transportation commission on 6/1/17:
- Highway Corridors
- Coastal Trail
- Rail Corridor
- Highway 9 Corridor
- Highway 17 Wildlife Corridor
Santa Cruz County Highways 1 and 17 are the region’s main thoroughfares. Measure D will provide approximately $125,000,000 in funding to improve safety and traffic flow, fund car-free highway overcrossings, and other safety programs.
Highway 1 — Extending three mid-county on-ramps to create full merge lanes down to Aptos (State Park Drive) between exits would allow more time for motorists to merge and exit safely.
Measure D will provide an estimated $97,000,000 for auxiliary merge lanes between:
- Soquel Drive and 41st Avenue
- Bay Ave/Porter St and Park Avenue
- Park Avenue and State Park Drive
Improving the traffic flow and safety of merging on Highway 1 would benefit:
- Mid- and south-county commuters with commutes too long to bike or walk
- Response times for medical, fire and law enforcement
- Bus riders on cross-county routes
- Neighborhoods which currently experience cut-through traffic during commute times
Measure D will also provide an estimated $7,000,000 for two new bicycle and pedestrian bridges over Highway 1:
- In Live Oak at Chanticleer Avenue
- In Seacliff/Aptos at Mar Vista Drive
Other safety and system efficiency programs will receive an estimated $21,000,000, including:
- Cruz 511 County traveler information service
- Safe on 17: law enforcement, drainage, warning devices, tree trimming and other safety efforts on Highway 17
- Freeway Service Patrol tow trucks helping disabled vehicles and removing debris from Highway 1 and Highway 17
Unified Corridor Investment Study (UCS)
This planning effort is funded through a Caltrans’ Sustainable Communities Transportation Planning Grant (FTA 5304) and local voter-approved Measure D funds.
Highway 1, Soquel Avenue/Drive and Freedom, and the Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line are parallel transportation routes in Santa Cruz County. Highway 1 and Soquel Avenue/Drive are two of the most heavily traveled and congested roadways in Santa Cruz County. Acquisition of the rail line provides a unique opportunity to create a corridor investment study that best utilizes these facilities.
The Unified Corridor Study will identify transportation projects that make the most effective use of these three parallel routes as one unified corridor to provide vehicle, transit, bicycle, and pedestrian transportation services for Santa Cruz County residents and visitors. Using a performance based approach, the Unified Corridor Study will prioritize projects for these transportation routes based on a triple bottom line analysis that considers equity, environment and the economy.
Unified Corridor Investment Study – Phase 1: Phase 1 to develop Santa Cruz County multimodal transportation modeling tools has been completed. Development of the model was a cooperative effort with the County of Santa Cruz Planning Department and Caltrans.
Unified Corridor Investment Study – Phase 2: Phase 2 will utilize the modeling tools developed in Phase 1 to evaluate project impacts. RTC staff along with input from the Commission, RTC advisory committees, stakeholders, and the public will establish the project goals, performance measures, list of projects to consider, and scenarios to evaluate for implementation on this corridor.