Parents, neighbors and students rejoice as Valencia Road reopens

Valencia Road in Aptos was open Monday for the first time since winter storms damaged a culvert so badly the road started to sink, which forced nearby Valencia Elementary School to be relocated and created a long detour for neighbors.

“Five days a week I pick my grandsons up from Valencia Elementary which (used to) take a 10-minute walk,” said Aptos resident Daniel Young. “After the road closed, my 8-year-old went to Cabrillo (College), the 10-year-old went to Aptos (High School), so I spent an hour and 15 minutes in the car, five days a week.”

In May, crews started to install the new temporary bridge to help with that commute.

“To have residents to do a 12-mile round-trip detour, where things used to just take a couple minutes to go up the street, is a significant improvement for the neighborhood and the parents at the school,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend.

The road may be open now, but there is still plenty of work going on underneath the bridge as crews continue construction on what is being known as the “second phase” of the Valencia Road project.

“When they finish the culvert work below, that is when we have to have the conversation with the community about when do we lift the bridge up,” said Friend. “It will close the road access for a short period of time while we repave and actually do the work up above.”

For now, many neighbors, parents and students are happy about progress.

“We are really excited because school starts next week and we are really looking forward to seeing all of our friends who we didn’t get a chance to see last year,” said Tracy Potts, whose three kids went to two different schools during the road closure.

The repair will cost $4 million, the most expensive storm-related road fix so far for Santa Cruz County. That money is being reimbursed by the federal government.

Additional repairs two slipouts on Valencia Road will happen in 2018, according to Friend.