Soquel drive open to 2 lanes following severe winter storm damage

UPDATE 2/02/18 6:05PM
Following a partial road collapse from last year’s winter storms, Soquel Drive is back open to two lanes.

For several months crews worked to repair a large slip-out at Valencia Creek that impacted traffic following severe winter storms in 2016-17.

Repairs include installation of a retaining wall, road regrading and a new guardrail. County spokesperson Jason Hoppin says even though this was a top priority it takes time before they can start these type of projects, “”There’s a long process even to do an emergency repair. You have to work with the state and federal government to get permits and there’s a substantial amount you have to do before you can put a shovel in the ground. You need all those approvals in place beforehand otherwise local tax payers may end up footing the entire cost of the project so you want to make sure all your
i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.”

This project cost a total of $650,000 and was mostly funded by the state and federal governments.

It’s something community members are excited about being done, “” i just heard today from a friend of mine that it was open, I didn’t even know, so it’s great it’s good news,” says Aptos resident Peter Lundquist.

Founder and owner of Caroline’s nonprofit off of Soquel Drive, Christy Licker, says the traffic made it hard for people to drop off donations. “there’s really only two ways to get to my shop, one of them coming from Soquel and one of them taking the back roads, so I’m really happy,” says Licker.

Soquel Drive dates back to the 1930’s as part of the old Santa Cruz-Watsonville Highway. While Hoppin says the road was never considered unsafe, it is now better than before, “there’s new regulations that’s why you see the guard rail and this road should be good for another hundred years at least.”

Mop-up work will continue over the next two weeks, but it is officially back to two lanes.

Valencia Road, which was also damaged in the storm, is expected to open back up to two lanes on February 13th.

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Following a partial road collapse from last years winter storms, Soquel Drive is back open to two lanes.

For several months crews worked to repair a large slipout at Valencia Creek that impacted traffic following severe winter storms in 2016-17.

Repairs include installation of a retaining wall, road regrading and a new guardrail.

Mop-up work will continue over the next two weeks.

The impacted road was built in the 1930’s as part of the old Santa Cruz-Watsonville Highway.

KION’s Ashley Keehn has more at 5 and 6 p.m.