SANTA CRUZ >> With the completion of some construction projects along West Cliff Drive in sight and others still far off on the horizon, Santa Cruz Public Works and Granite Construction provided an update on the repairs occurring along the scenic roadway Wednesday morning.

“We’re at about the year milestone of construction on West Cliff,” said Santa Cruz Public Works Assistant Director Kevin Crossley, at the corner of Woodrow Avenue and West Cliff Drive Wednesday morning. “It’s hard to believe, so we felt that it would be appropriate to invite you all out to come take a look at the progress and share some big updates about what lies ahead for the remainder of this year and part of 2025.”

Crossley, who coordinates the construction efforts on West Cliff Drive, and Granite Construction Project Manager Bryan Adames led a tour for media members of the projects happening on West Cliff Drive Wednesday, alongside Santa Cruz City Manager Matt Huffaker and others.

“The volume and the pace of the projects we have on West Cliff is unprecedented,” said Huffaker. “They will not only allow us to restore two-way (traffic) along West Cliff but will also protect some of our most vulnerable sections along West Cliff at least for the foreseeable future — until Mother Nature intervenes at some point. The amount of work that’s been underway over the course of the last year is pretty incredible.”

After providing city staff and members of the media with reflective jackets and hard hats, Crossley led the crew behind the protective fence along the 900 block of West Cliff Drive near Woodrow Avenue to explain how public works and Granite Construction have been re-armoring the coast since the onslaught of winter storms in 2023.

The infill walls at 920 and 932 West Cliff Drive are just about done, Crossley mentioned, and Adames added that the wall at 920 is about 14 feet thick at the base.

“It’s a substantial wall with thousands of yards of concrete,” said Crossley. “Credit to Granite, for in about three months getting this part of the project reconstructed. We’re just waiting for railings to go in. The wood will be removed, and we’ll put in metal hand railings and that will be the completion of the work here. We’re excited to reopen this area to the public.”

Adames explained that the railings on the two walls are planned to be installed next week. He mentioned that the 136-foot-long wall at 920 West Cliff Drive and the approximately 65-foot-long wall at 932 West Cliff Drive consist of a standard concrete core and decorative concrete face, built upward 2 1/2 feet at a time.

“These two are gravity walls,” added Adames. “It’s literally a mass of concrete that’s in the ground here. We had to get all the way down to bedrock. We key into the bedrock three feet and then you just build this like you eat an elephant — one bite at a time.”

Granite Construction began to build the walls in the winter months and Adames mentioned that the elements were often against them, but they kept their eyes on the ocean and worked through it.

“We’d get the swells that would come up and over and you’d have to wait them out,” said Adames. “Any water intrusion that did come in, we’d have to pump out because you can’t get concrete mixed in with the ocean. As those swells would come, we’d just have to keep our eyes on the tide and deal with them as they show up.”

Last winter, wave action caused a massive sinkhole in the pedestrian path at 944 West Cliff Drive. The hole was recently filled with a combination of gravel and concrete slurry, according to Crossley.

“It was over 20 feet deep,” said Crossley. “We had to dig the hole out, plug the hole at the bottom of the wall and fill it back in. So, this is an example of new damages that happened in between other projects that we were already in construction on. Fortunately we already had Granite at the site and they were able to pick this job site up too.”

Further west at 960 West Cliff Drive, which also sustained further damage earlier this year, the crew at Granite Construction is drilling a series of piers, which will connect and form a secant pile wall.

“We’re working as quickly as we can now to restore the additional erosion that took out some of the path and also damaged the existing retaining wall, which you’ll see Granite crews cutting some of the rebar on to make a connection between the new and existing wall. That’s known as the 960 site and that’s what’s going to govern the reopening of the 900 block, so we’re hoping to tie that up by the end of the year,” said Adames.

“And we are sprinting towards that goal,” he added.

On the other side of Woodrow Avenue, the Bethany Culvert Project is well under way and Adames predicts it will be done around Thanksgiving of this year.

“We’re on track, as Bryan said, to have the project finished within the November timeframe,” said Crossley. “Unfortunately we won’t be able to open the road to two-way (traffic) right away.”

Crossley explained that construction crews discovered a 70-foot-deep sea cave around 1016 West Cliff Drive, which will serve as an impasse for automobile traffic until next summer or later, but the 900 block should be open for two-way traffic by the end of 2024 — before winter hits.

“We’d like just a regular winter,” said Crossley. “It’d be nice just to get through this winter and button up the work we’ve started and not have as much or more work created for us for next year.”