Boulder Creek Complete Streets Improvements

The RTC has worked with residents, businesses, schools, Caltrans, the County of Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz METRO, and others to prepare the Highway 9 San Lorenzo Valley Complete Streets Corridor Plan (SLV Plan), which identifies priority transportation projects through SLV.

The Boulder Creek Complete Streets improvement project was one of the highest priorities identified in the plan and includes sidewalks and bike lanes through downtown Boulder Creek on Highway 9 between Mountain Street and Bear Creek Road as well as to Laurel Street on Highway 236, enhanced crosswalks with curb extensions (“bulb-outs”) to shorten crossing distances and make it easier to see pedestrians waiting to cross the street, center median islands to slow speeds and reduce conflicts in the downtown core, and the analysis of a new stop sign at Highway 9 and Bear Creek Road.

Complete streets through Boulder Creek is one of the projects in SLV with high public support. This area has a history of pedestrian and bicyclist-involved traffic collisions, and existing facilities are in need of repair or improvement. The Caltrans/RTC project team recently completed the Complete Streets Project Initiation Document (PID 05-1M550) analyzing bicycle and pedestrian improvements on Highway 9 throughout SLV in more detail.

Representative Anna Eshoo included $1,500,000 in construction funding for complete streets improvements in Boulder Creek as part of her funding request for legislation to reauthorize federal surface transportation programs, the H.R. 3684 INVEST in America Act currently working its way through congress.

RTC staff are currently preparing applications for two additional federal competitive funding opportunities: Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and Safe Streets for All (SS4A), a new federal complete streets grant opportunity that was part of the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill, or Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). Either of these programs, along with a match from voter-approved Measure D, would provide the resources necessary to take the complete streets improvements proposed in the SLV Plan for the segment of Boulder Creek between Mountain Street and Bear Creek Road through the engineering and environmental review process as well as through to final construction. If this federal funding is secured, RTC will keep the community informed and solicit their feedback throughout the project implementation process.

Many other components of the SLV Plan in Felton are already making their way through the implementation process as part of Caltrans’ planned Safety and Capital Preventative Maintenance (CAPM) projects (05-1M400 or 05-1K890).