Why Stop the Auxiliary Lane Project from State Park Dr. to Freedom Blvd?

In March 2024 the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation and the Sierra Club filed a lawsuit against Caltrans regarding the Environmental Impact Report for proposed auxiliary lanes (exit-only lanes) in Aptos, from State Park Dr. to Freedom Blvd.

There are three important reasons to stop this project:
1. The project will not achieve congestion relief on Highway 1. In the words of former Executive Director of the Regional Transportation Commission, Linda Wilshusen, “The data in the Draft EIR itself demonstrates no sustained traffic-relief benefit from this Project.”
2. The auxiliary lanes will result in the destruction of over 1,100 trees in Aptos, among them many beautiful redwoods.
3. The $180 million earmarked for this project could be better spent on improving our transit system and improving safety on our streets. Santa Cruz County has the 2nd worst rate of injuries to bicyclists and 5th worst rate of injuries to pedestrians out of 58 California counties.

Our lawsuit petition points out that the Caltrans EIR:

• Failed to analyze or mitigate increased vehicle miles traveled resulting from the project.
• Failed to analyze any alternatives to the project, including a genuine bus-on-shoulder express bus service.
• Relies on a Tier I EIR (Master EIR for auxiliary lanes from Santa Cruz to Freedom Blvd) that the court invalidated in 2022 in response to our lawsuit.

See my 20 minute video Why Auxiliary Lanes Won’t Work.

You can contribute online or to CFST, Box 7927, Santa Cruz, 95061.

Background

This auxiliary lane project is a legacy from a large project conceived in the 20th Century: the doubling of lanes on Highway 1 (adding High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes and an auxiliary lane in each direction).   The HOV Lane Project is not feasible for three reasons:

• It is unrealistic to expect state funding for a major highway expansion project given the increased awareness at the state level that we can’t build our way out of congestion.
• Over $2 billion for demolishing and rebuilding overpasses, purchasing new land for expanded clover leafs, etc., is financially out of reach of our county.
• Our successful lawsuit invalidated the Environmental Impact Report for the project.

However, the elected members of the Regional Transportation Commission are still voting to build auxiliary lanes (exit-only lanes), even though the Environmental Impact Reports to date have estimated insignificant congestion relief resulting from these lanes:

• The EIR for the Soquel Dr. to 41st Ave auxiliary lanes (now under construction) estimates, “the auxiliary lane alternative would slightly worsen traffic operations in the southbound peak commute hour”.
• The EIR for the State Park Dr. to Freedom Blvd. auxiliary lanes Table 2-19 estimates slower traffic in the northbound morning period after the project is built. The EIR estimates that the congestion relief in the southbound afternoon commute will be short-lived.

See this article which discusses Caltrans’ strategy to build auxiliary lanes to try and evade the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

Stopping the Aptos Auxiliary Lanes would:

• Align our spending with our climate, safety and social equity goals 

This auxiliary lane project would cost over $180 million (includes new rail bridges over Aptos Creek, Valencia Creek, two pedestrian and bicycle bridges). These funds would be better spent on:

1. Transit improvements, including a real bus-on-shoulder express bus service, instead of the current plan to operate buses in auxiliary lanes. Also: funding existing plans on Soquel Dr. for bus signal prioritization; offboard ticketing; bus boarding platforms and safe crosswalks and protected bike lanes. In the 2035 Regional Transportation Plan, transit is allocated 44% of all transportation dollars. In the updated 2045 Regional Transportation Plan, transit is allocated 37% of all transportation dollars. We’re going in the wrong direction.
2. Making our streets safe for bicyclists and pedestrians.