Two-way traffic resumes after two years along a strip of West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz

SANTA CRUZ, Calif. (KION-TV) -- After nearly two years of road closures due to storm damage, the city is reopening the block between Columbia Street and Woodrow Avenue.

As crews wrap up the final phase of construction, the city is excited to see the area restored.

"It's great to see things back to normal, so we're excited to finish the final phase of work just up the road," Assistant Director of Public Works Kevin Crossley said. "We were able to bring it back the way it was before to two lanes of traffic in its direction and in some cases an even improved pathway for the folks that want to walk a bike."

For residents like Paul Detweiler, he has been waiting for the road to reopen.

He shared his thoughts on how the closures affected his daily life.

"Many of the residents here, some were complaining that their traffic was rerouted, so that was an issue," Detweiler said. "When that all the fencing came down and grant, it looks like they completed the project, it was awesome that we finally had access again."

"The road is so beautiful, and the new sidewalk and the new railings, you know, it's so beautiful. and the new concrete pillars down there, it's it's so nice," Robbie Macaya lives in West Cliff Drive said.

While this section of West Cliff drive reopens today, work will continue on other parts of the road with more updates expected in the coming months.

"My main concern would just be like the safety of, like, these walkways and making sure that they don't grow too fast," Ricardo Garcia lives in Santa Cruz said. "Making sure that whatever work they're doing is like going to last for a long time, so we don't have to have these like, closures again."

There’s still work to be done,  but the improvements so far are built to withstand future storms.  

"We've got quite robust walls constructed in several locations and where we didn't build walls, we were able to source material that we think is going to be a more durable and lasting solution than what was there before," Crossley said.

That section of West Cliff drive will reopen by end of Friday, as construction crews are wrapping up and all road closures will be removed.