WATSONVILLE, Calif. — The agency examining a transit plan, including commuter rail, for Santa Cruz County has deferred its decision until January.
At a Nov. 15 meeting, the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission voted unanimously to wait until its Jan. 17 meeting to decide whether to adopt a $950-million plan that includes a $340 commuter rail component. The decision had originally been scheduled for Dec. 6, but several members of the commission pleaded for more time, the Santa Cruz Sentinel reports.
The rail plan involves the 32-mile Santa Cruz Branch Rail line, which runs parallel to State Route 1 from Watsonville to the coastal community of Davenport, north of Santa Cruz. The rail route, which runs within a mile of about half of the 275,000 residents of Santa Cruz County, would share its right-of-way with a pedestrian and bicycle trail. The commission bought the rail line from Union Pacific in 2010 for $14.2 million, with $11 million coming from the state because of the commuter plan. If the commission decides against commuter rail, it will have to repay the state money.
The Sentinel reports that speakers at the Nov. 15 meeting were evenly split for and against the rail project, with many opponents concerned with cost while proponents are seeking an alternative to gridlock-plagued commutes.
Interesting, wonder if half the crowd that wants to run with commuter rail line is thinking in terms of North Bay SMART. I assume the plan would be to rebuild the existing rail line and use similar diesel powered train sets as SMART.
SMART has some good things going for it and is being extended to Larkspur ferry terminal. Therefore it will offer a transit option alternative into San Fran separate from sitting in a car/bus on Hwy 101 to cross the Golden Gate Bridge. The direct access to Ferry terminal should be a big plus in building ridership and provide a reasonable alternative to Hwy 101 during rush hour. It also runs nearby and believe has a shuttle a connection to Sonoma Regional Airport, future reliever airport and another way to build ridership. At same time it preserved and allowed freight service to return to Santa Rosa, and maybe farther north in time. I would also assume in time with SMART expansion/existing Ferry service it might offer car free transit option for city dweller headed to ever expanding wine country.
See a lot of opportunity with SMART where as the big downfall of the proposed Santa Cruz commuter line in my mind is that doesn’t provide bay access/where the jobs are located from the coast. So it offers no real alternative to the mess of HWY 17. One accident on Hwy 17 and its a parking lot & nightmare for area commuters. Nor does it make sense to go down to Watsonville so you can go back north into the bay area to get to your job. So not sure how big of a gain it would to the area to have an alternative transit option parallel to Hwy 1 in the foreseeable future.
However, couple benefits is that it maintains the RoW & current/expanding trail next to it as well provides non auto alternatives & recreational uses, saves a rail freight alternative/corridor for some key businesses that is not happening on its own, and does offer a means to get a few cars of Hwy 1. I think some in Marin and Sonoma counties development circles see their rebuilt rail line as an opportunity for future industrial development.
I guess at the end of the day, is the benefits worth the dollar figures being thrown around?
I have often heard Santa Cruz County called, derisively, The Democratic Peoples Republic of Santa Cruz. Seriously, this proposed railroad’s service area is far too small (275,000) to support a commuter rail operation that doesn’t eventually end up in a city of 2+ million. Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a truly regional commuter rail plan that is backed up by a truly regional transportation planning district. I liked John Rice’s observation about the trail and anti-car interest groups going after each other. However, my friend’s comment about the passenger mix (commuters on weekdays and tourists on the weekends) doesn’t recognize the realities of the area’s population mix. I am afraid John has entered the “Wouldn’t It Be Nice If _ _ _ _ _ _ ” zone.
Santa Cruz roads are congested seven days a week now. Seem like a good place to at least start some commuter rail activity. There’s not much room left to expand the freeways either (altho, destroying cities with freeways has been, and always will be, a fun activity for highway guys, so expansion is always an option – I guess…)
Roger Cole,
The commuter line isn’t to feed into any place on the Bay side of the Coast Range, but to feed into Santa Cruz itself on one end. You have no idea how much traffic there is on Highway 1 into Santa Cruz from the communities that are south of it.
Where would this commuter line feed into? San Jose would probably be at least 2 hours, San Francisco 3 or more hours away. I wonder how many would want that long of a commute every workday.
Ted, I agree with you, I also live in the Seattle/Tacoma mess of parking lot freeways like that every day even weekends. For over 40 years after Forward Thrust failed and Atlanta got our subway, nothing was done here. Now trying to catch up.
What an interesting argument. Tree huggers vs anti-car zealots.
They were united against Iowa Pacific, now that they got what they wanted, they are turning on each other.
The ROW is ripe for some kind of improved mobility, especially since it traverses downtown Santa Cruz.
Commuters on the weekdays and tourists on the weekends seem like a pretty good mix if they can all learn to live together.
But if they don’t do something soon, Cemex will leave Davenport for good and the lumber mill on the valley branch as well. Only Martinelli’s Apple Cider is saving the south end.
From past performances, the longer you wait, the road congestion will get worse, and build costs will go up. “Bite the bullet”—– just “get er done”–ala Seattle/ Tacoma area.