
Before = extra wide lanes: After normal lanes w-bike
One of the major safety issues on this northern segment of Santa Cruz are the extra wide lanes that greatly add to the speeding problem. These lanes are actually wider than lanes on Hwy 101.
By reducing these lanes widths to be similar as the widths on SCA further north (towards downtown) and moving the shoulder line a foot or less, a bike lane can be added. Additionally, instead of the SB traffic lane, the up hill direction, having a shared lane with cyclists, cyclists will now have a dedicated bike lane and the sharrow will be removed from this lane.
NO COST!!
In 2023, County’s Pavement Preservation Project will repair and resurface this segment of Santa Cruz. That means it will be re-striped – that is all that is needed to achieve the goals above. However, County needs to restripe with the objective of making the treaffic lanes 10′ and aligned such that the striping for the SB bike lane can be achieved. No extra pavement is required, just a competent restripe plan.
If the community doesn’t ask for this, County will most likely simple restripe based on the current extra wide traffic lanes and no provisions for improving safety. This safety opportunity will be lost. Please see Safer4Us.com/n-santa-cruz to take action and send supporting email.
Please add to the discussion by using the Comments section at the bottom of that Pro & Con page.
Why so inexpensive? The cost of this is simply the cost associated with the paint of the lanes — with the Pavement Preservation Project, the restripe costs are covered by that project. The choice to paint the bike lane green would add to the cost but also add extra visiblity and safety.