Big improvements underway at Twin Lakes State Beach

Improvements have been more than 20 years in the making but work is officially underway at Twin Lakes State Beach.

On Thursday, Santa Cruz County officials broke ground on a $4.7 million dollar improvement project, to alleviate some of the traffic congestion near the beach.

Construction will take place along East Cliff Drive between 5th and 7th Avenues.

The county plans to realign the street, add bicycle lanes, sidewalks, road improvements, including parking spaces, so cars no longer have to park on the sand.

“We’re really moving the right of way of the road closer to the houses which is actually the right of way the county had. It’s been encroached on over the years. So the coastline will stay about where it is but we’ll be moving the road a little bit and really creating a lot of good more access,” said 3rd district supervisor Ryan Coonerty.

Construction is expected to be complete by summer of 2017.