Soquel Avenue intersections will get turn lanes - Santa Cruz Se...

Barrios Unidos, promotes nonviolence among youth? Your on glue if you believe this load of crap. Take a stroll around and in this dirty pit and you will see what your city has wasted too much money on. Come on Sentinel, do an article on this one!

That length of Soquel Ave is so messed up (and this is AFTER ALL THE ROADWORK WAS COMPLETED!). What was once a relatively straight shot is now a dangerous meandering road. Drivers need to be more careful than ever just trying to stay within their lane. I assume this meandering is due to accomodations of having bike lanes. What a trade off. Poor Santa Cruz. Growing pains and congestion.

This has been a need for twenty years! Funny how fast the proposal, planning and money came in for the bike lanes (even the change at Soquel and Capitola Road). This is now going to hindge on new developement money? Why not (as we wait) place signs making left turns during the hours of 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. not legal like you would find in S.F. and other congested highly used surface streets. That of course would make too much sense for Santa Cruz. Living here for 44 years, Santa Cruz still does everything backwards.

Terrible terrible terrible....
All that time and money and inconvenience was already spent along Soquel Ave. and NOW they decide turn lanes should be added.

I applaud Tony Madrigal for opposing this idiotic plan. What a bunch of misguided fools!

There were turn lanes there 12 years ago and they removed them some time ago,even before this last round of changes.I use those intersections daily and never understood why they changed what used to work.Once agian the city traffic planning commission falls flat.

The problems on Soquel are a direct result of city traffic engineers being bike nuts. They added bike lanes and we lost two car lanes. Here's a news bulletin for the city: Streets are for cars - big, heavy, dangerous cars that don't need to be weaving around bicycling clowns who disobey all traffic laws.

Myrtle wrote:

The problems on Soquel are a direct result of city traffic engineers being bike nuts. They added bike lanes and we lost two car lanes. Here's a news bulletin for the city: Streets are for cars - big, heavy, dangerous cars that don't need to be weaving around bicycling clowns who disobey all traffic laws.

I don't necessarily think city traffic engineers are "bike nuts," but I do think they are a bunch of nuts. From downtown to Seabright, Soquel goes from 1 lane to 2 lanes, 1 lane to 2 lanes... it's goofy. And as both a bike rider and car driver, that nutty configuration at Soquel and Capitola Road is of no benefit either mode of transportation.

Don't forget, these new turn lanes will be governed by poorly timed lights that will cause backups down to the next intersection. Then the traffic department will cry poor, saying they need more money to synchronize them.

Another waste of money screwing up Soquel Ave. like past "planners" have done for years. If there's a grant available they'll grab it and create a useless project to justify their idiotic salaries before they leave for Los Gatos and Campbell.

1 million, one hundred and thirty one million dollars for two turn lanes.

I'm in the wrong business.

1 million, one hundred and thirty one thousand....phew....that sounds better.

I'll keep my day job.

"The 6-1 City Council vote came in the face of complaints from some Eastside residents that developers planning large construction projects at the intersections should be the ones to pay for the road improvements. "

That is what I have been saying too! And likewise, I think businesses like Home Depot that cause traffic should have to pay to widen the off-ramps, since its their fault, and they will get profit out of it anyway (and if it isn't profitable thereafter, then don't build in the first place).

SOQUEL through Mid-Town needs ALL protected Left turn lights, OR to have NO Left Turns allowed during saturated hours (like in SF).

Local Santa Cruz Person wrote:

This has been a need for twenty years! Funny how fast the proposal, planning and money came in for the bike lanes (even the change at Soquel and Capitola Road). This is now going to hindge on new developement money? Why not (as we wait) place signs making left turns during the hours of 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. not legal like you would find in S.F. and other congested highly used surface streets. That of course would make too much sense for Santa Cruz. Living here for 44 years, Santa Cruz still does everything backwards.

Whoa, I didn't see your comment before I posted. Fully agreed!!! The Capitola/Soquel re-design was counter-productive to traffic flow. The city planners must be stoned out of their minds. More concentrated on frivolous things like Measure K and less on proper road planning.

Buck wrote:

1 million, one hundred and thirty one thousand....phew....that sounds better.
I'll keep my day job.

Hey man, I have a plan. Why don't you and I team up, re-paint the lines, ourselves and charge only 500K and split that?

Local Santa Cruz Person wrote:

This has been a need for twenty years! Funny how fast the proposal, planning and money came in for the bike lanes (even the change at Soquel and Capitola Road). This is now going to hindge on new developement money? Why not (as we wait) place signs making left turns during the hours of 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. not legal like you would find in S.F. and other congested highly used surface streets. That of course would make too much sense for Santa Cruz. Living here for 44 years, Santa Cruz still does everything backwards.

The redesign of Soquel Ave. is the strangest and scariest design I have ever seen. I have had so many close calls as people just keep going straight, even though their lanes keep swerving around. How did this make the road safer for anyone?

I completely agree that they should restrict left turns during certain hours. Don't they do that on Mission st? They at least did before the construction to "improve" it.

Local Santa Cruz Person wrote:

This has been a need for twenty years! Funny how fast the proposal, planning and money came in for the bike lanes (even the change at Soquel and Capitola Road).

I suppose 10 years to get bike lanes is faster than 20 years. Funny, ha ha!

Myrtle wrote:

The problems on Soquel are a direct result of city traffic engineers being bike nuts. They added bike lanes and we lost two car lanes. Here's a news bulletin for the city: Streets are for cars - big, heavy, dangerous cars that don't need to be weaving around bicycling clowns who disobey all traffic laws.

huh? Adding bike lanes to Soquel Between Morrissey and Capitola didn't eliminate any car lanes.

"Others neighbors questioned if the turn lanes would encourage more drivers to cut onto residential streets to avoid Soquel Avenue gridlock."

I've never understood these people. Don't they know there isn't any other way to cross Arana Gulch for a half mile either to the north or south? Where is cut through traffic going to go? They must be the same idiots who thought adding bicycle lanes to Soquel will make it more dangerous for their children to bike on all the cross streets to Soquel that don't go anywhere.

Just make it a NO LEFT TURN during heavy traffic times like on Mission Street!

Geesh. We've been through all the trouble of construction along that area for people who don't even pa registration fees for their vehicles (bicyclists).

Seriously, it's time for a NO LEFT TURN at certain times and a cop parked down there ready to give citations whenever it's violated (and double the fine for bicyclists).

I wish something could be done about turning left from Branciforte there accross from "The Buttery" to get onto Soquel Ave. heading east. It sure is a pain in the patooty.:) grrrrr.