Road work begins on storm-punished Valencia Road

Work to repair storm-damaged Valencia Road, which has been closed since late January, has begun, according to Santa Cruz County spokesperson Jason Hoppin. A portion of the road over Trout Gulch Creek in Aptos closed when winter storms caused a large culvert to fail and the road to sink.

The closure has been especially tough for students at Valencia Elementary School. Parents were forced to move their kids to other schools.

“The school had to be relocated. The residents have had to drive 6 miles out one way and it has provided a real hardship,” said Santa Cruz County Supervisor Zach Friend. “This will bring people back into a normal situation once we get the bridge back.”

Resident Dennis Antweiler says he is one of the lucky ones. “It’s easier for me than most, since I am retired,” said Antweiler. “People have had to go to different schools. Sometimes if they’ve (parents) got two kids they’ve got several places to drop their kids off and pick them up.”

Crews are working to get the new culvert in place, but at the same time they are also working on a temporary bridge, which should be installed by July, according to Friend. The county originally decided on a one-lane temporary bridge, but later decided two lanes was the way to go.

“As opposed (to) one lane that was controlled, now you can have two lanes just as though the road were fully repaired again,” said Friend. “I think that people are ready to have full access back to their neighborhood and back to that school.”

“This is a key step to bring back normalcy to the surrounding neighbors and Valencia Elementary School,” added Friend. “We’ve prioritized this repair from among 180 winter damage sites, and we’re moving toward reopening the road to traffic as soon as possible.”

Getting to this point hasn’t been easy, though. The county says the size of this project is significant, with a massive amount of environmental and engineering work. The county has also been dealing with roughly a $100 million in other damage.

“While I recognize that it took about four months to get under construction, it’s definitely a long time and a real hardship, but we are excited that it’s actually happening now,” said Friend.

The approximately $4 million repair is being funded by the Federal Highway Administration and local matching funds. The county is also working toward repairs at several other priority road sites throughout the unincorporated areas.