On July 12, 2022, the Sacramento Superior Court ruled in favor of the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation and the Sierra Club and against Caltrans, finding that the Caltrans Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for the expansion of Highway 1 in Santa Cruz County is inadequate. The decision states, "The Court orders that CalTrans’ approval of the Tier I Project and the EIR shall be set aside, and that CalTrans shall recirculate a revised DEIR for public review and comment.”
Rick Longinotti, chair of the Campaign for Sustainable Transportation (CFST), responded to the decision, “This decision means our Regional Transportation Commission (RTC) has an opportunity to reconsider transportation strategies other than the pie-in-the sky notion that it will build HOV lanes from Santa Cruz to Watsonville, which an RTC report admits is unfunded until 'after 2035’. What people do not realize is that the RTC has no effective plan to offer commuters who are stuck in traffic.”
The only component of the Highway 1 expansion project that can be funded is auxiliary lanes (exit-only lanes) from Santa Cruz to State Park Dr. The Caltrans EIR for the next auxiliary lane segment, from Soquel Ave to 41st Ave. estimates, “the auxiliary lane alternative would slightly worsen traffic operations in the southbound peak commute hour”.
“Why would we build auxiliary lanes that offer no safety or congestion benefit, when we could spend the money offering real alternatives to being stuck in traffic?” asks Longinotti.
CFST is asking, among other things, that the RTC convert their plan to build auxiliary lanes to a bus-only lane on the shoulder of the highway. The RTC’s current plan is to run buses in the proposed auxiliary lanes, where, like everyone else, they will be stuck in traffic. A dedicated bus lane project would offer a substantial number of commuters a viable alternative to sitting stuck in traffic, and not worsen the evening commute.
If Caltrans still wants to proceed with the project, it will be required re-circulate a draft EIR for public review. The new EIR will need to conform to recent state legislation, SB 743, requiring mitigation of projects that increase vehicle miles traveled, the biggest contributor to greenhouse gases in the state. “That could be an insurmountable barrier for a highway expansion project. Rather than keep pushing an unsustainable project that doesn’t solve congestion, we’re asking the RTC to engage in community dialogue about funding solutions that work,” explains Longinotti.