A March 11 public meeting will answer residents’ questions on the Santa Cruz harbor bridge project, slated from March 2025 to January 2028. (City of Santa Cruz)

“We’re here to help address concerns and ultimately make this project go smoothly,” said Holland MacLaurie, port director of Santa Cruz Small Craft Harbor. She added there will be some impacts “we can’t get around.”

Crossed by more than 10,000 people daily, the Murray Street Bridge is the last bridge in the City of Santa Cruz to be updated for earthquake safety. The $68 million project was first proposed in the 1990s and has been delayed for decades because of money and other problems. 

“Just because it survived Loma Prieta [in 1989] doesn’t mean it will survive Loma Prieta No. 2, whenever that comes around,” said Miguel Lizarraga, an associate professional engineer in the city’s public works department.

The project is expected to: 

• Widen bike lanes and a sidewalk.
• Add new pilings and columns to withstand earthquakes.
• Add a new sewer line off the deck of the inland side of the bridge.
• Keep the same bridge height and boat clearance.

Detour details

Westbound traffic on the bridge could be shuttered as early as March 17, said Kevin Crossley, the city’s assistant director of public works. Once that happens, all westbound vehicles will be detoured up 7th Avenue to Capitola Road. Westbound cyclists will be re-routed to Broadway by a bike path through Arana Gulch.

The bridge’s westbound lane into Santa Cruz will be closed to drivers and cyclists for the duration of the project, which is slated to wrap by January 2028. For around 20% of the time, the entire bridge will be closed to drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, Crossley said. 

Crossley acknowledged that the Murray Street bridge project will overlap with nearby road construction on Highway 1. But he said the city couldn’t wait any longer. 

“There’s really not a perfect time to start,” he said. 

City officials said they were working to minimize traffic disruptions. “There’s going to be an impact, but we’re trying to be proactive and reduce it as much as possible,” Lizarraga said. 

The westbound lane of the harbor bridge could be detoured as soon as March 17, city officials said. (City of Santa Cruz)

The bridge remained open in both directions as of March 10. Staging and other pre-construction started in early February. 

“Right now, the city and their contractor have started to mobilize, and they’re occupying space on the west side of the harbor,” MacLaurie said. 

During construction, boats will still be able to go in and out of the harbor. The harbor paths below the bridge will be closed at times. The project does not involve changes to the neighboring railroad bridge over the harbor.

“Certain portions of the project will be impossible to do safely without closing the bridge entirely,” Crossley said. “The more closures we can get the contractor, the faster things will go.”

Project costs and details

The Murray Street Bridge project was drafted in the 1990s and delayed when state funding dried up during a budget crisis in the 2000s. Later, engineers redesigned the sewer pipeline running underneath the harbor, which also stalled work.

The city made its first attempt to find a contractor in 2023, but only received one bid that was ultimately rejected by the Santa Cruz City Council. City staff went out for more bids, and in late 2024 a contract was awarded to Irvine-based Shimmick Construction Co. Inc. 

City staff estimated construction costs at $34 million in 2023. The current construction contract is $45.4 million. 

The total cost of the project is expected to be $68 million, city officials said, including a few million in additional construction costs and about $18 million for design, right-of-way costs and other non-construction activities. The city will pay for around 12% of the project, with state and federal grants covering the rest, said Crossley. 

He said the bridge will be designed to withstand a 7.9 magnitude earthquake, roughly equivalent to the 1906 quake that devastated San Francisco. 

• New support pilings will be driven underwater and new columns will be attached to the bridge deck to fortify it from future temblors. 
• The bridge will be widened by about 10 feet. Bike lanes on either side of the bridge will be expanded from 4 feet to 6 feet, though they will remain unseparated from vehicle traffic, city officials said. 
• A 7.5-foot-wide pedestrian sidewalk will be installed on the ocean-facing side of the bridge, which is nearly double the width of the current sidewalk. Though primarily a seismic project, Lizarraga called the pedestrian and bike improvements “the cherry on top.”

The bridge widening will also allow for a sewer pipeline, which runs to the Santa Cruz Wastewater Treatment Plan at Neary Lagoon, to be moved from under the harbor to the bridge deck. 

If that pipeline ever broke or clogged, many people would not be able to use their toilets, Lizarraga said. He added that it will be easier and far less expensive to maintain the new aboveground pipeline than the current underwater pipeline.

To protect marine wildlife, an air bubble curtain will blunt acoustic vibrations caused by underwater construction activities. In addition, pile driving will be largely restricted to the summer months, and work will be halted if a sea otter, sea lion or seal approaches.  

Walkers, cyclists and drivers can all expect better views of the harbor and ocean, as the solid concrete barriers on each side of the bridge will be replaced with see-through metal rails. 

Several collisions have been reported on the bridge over the years, including a 61-year-old Santa Cruz cyclist who was killed in a crash with a driver in 2018, authorities said. 

The rail bridge parallel to the harbor bridge is not part of the seismic retrofit project. (Stephen Baxter — Santa Cruz Local file)

Harbor businesses

The project is forcing certain harbor businesses, including Chardonnay Sailing Charters and Pacific Sail, to temporarily relocate. Natalie Corkhill, manager at Pacific Sail, said protective plastic will cover their office during the project. They’ll move to a portable trailer.

She didn’t anticipate much of a business impact, other than that customers will have to walk further to access Pacific Sail’s 11 boats. “We feel very supported,” Corkhill said. “It’s something that needs to be done, so we’re just moving with it and being flexible.”

MacLaurie, the port director, said that despite the inevitable challenges she was happy to see the project come to fruition. “Being able to move past it and not have to worry about it anymore is something everyone is looking forward to,” MacLaurie said.

She said roughly 30 boats would need to be moved, mostly to spots in the harbor normally reserved for visiting boats. “There will be some space constraints for sure,” MacLaurie said.

The port district is responsible for demolishing and reconstructing FF-Dock near the bridge on the harbor’s west side, and for clearing space — including the relocation of rowing racks — so that construction can commence, MacLaurie said. The rest of the project, she said, will be handled by the city and its contractor.

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