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Growing Potholes and Shrinking Budget, Santa Cruz County Turns to Voters

Faced with growing potholes and shrinking government budgets, transportation officials in Santa Cruz County are turning to voters. They’re asking people to open up their pocketbooks to help pay for road and transit projects.

Measure D on the November ballot would raise the sales tax by a half-cent over the next 30 years. A previous sales tax measure to fund transportation failed in 2004. This year’s Measure D needs a two-thirds vote to pass.

“If it doesn’t pass, our roads will continue to deteriorate actually at an accelerating rate,” says George Dondero, Executive Director of the Regional Transportation Commission, which put together the measure. “Over time, if you haven’t done any maintenance, you’re going to have to replace the road, which is very very costly.”

The tax would generate $500 million, which the county can leverage to get state and federal grants. The money would fund the Transportation Improvement Plan, a diverse range of transportation projects from helping the bus system to fixing the region's rutted roads.

Some would go to building the Coastal Rail Trail, a 32-mile bike and pedestrian path that runs parallel to train tracks between Davenport and Watsonville. The tax would also pay to widen Highway 1 with new merge lanes at some of the county’s busiest sections, giving drivers a clearer path when entering and exiting the freeway.

“If we complete those, the amount of time savings for an average commuter from Watsonville to Santa Cruz say, would accumulate about seven work days in a year,” says Dondero. “That’s a lot of time that you would probably want to spend with your family instead of on the highway in congested conditions.”

However, a small but vocal group says the county won’t be able to build its way out of congestion and thinks widening is a bad idea.

“Congestion is actually the only thing that’s discouraging people from traveling long distances into Santa Cruz County,” says Rick Longinotti, who’s with the environmental organization Campaign for Sensible Transportation. “So if you improve that, then people will consider moving here, and the freeway is back where it started.”

He added that more cars on the freeway will cause more pollution. His plan is to vote no on Measure D.

“If it wasn’t for the highway widening, I’d absolutely support the measure,” he says, “because there’s money in there to do a bicycle and pedestrian trail along the rail line, which I think would be really effective, not just for tourists but for people getting to school, getting to work.”

That’s why Sherry Bryan supports the tax.

“I’m really excited to ride my bike on the Rail Trail downtown and also to South County to Watsonville,” she says. “I actually have friends who live and work down there, so I would be interested in challenging myself to ride south that way from Live Oak. It would be a clear shot.”

She’d like to see less gridlock on the roadway and more bike infrastructure in the county.

“There’s so much traffic on the road, and it’s just better to bike for the environment,” she says. “When you drive, you’re more likely to be in traffic during the high commute time.”

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