New bike lane in the heart of Santa Cruz is expected to increase safety and help flow of traffic

Back in February the Santa Cruz City Council approved a contraflow bike lane, and today they celebrate the projects completion.

Today at 12:15 p.m. the City will hold a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Assembly Restaurant in downtown Santa Cruz. According to Transportation Manager Jim Burr, the new bright green lane on Pacific Avenue will make it safer for everyone on the roadway, while still increasing bike traffic, which supports the City’s climate action plan.

“There was a pretty strong outpouring from the bike community about having access on that road. We can’t build wider roadways and traffic is going to continue to increase, so bicycles are one of the methods on how we get that done.” Said Transportation Manager Jim Burr.

In addition to the strong outpour from the bike community, the City said the project was also designed as a response to people riding the wrong way or on the sidewalk. The entire project was grant funded and came in right around $46,000/

For a list of DO’s and DONT’s on the Contraflow:

http://www.cityofsantacruz.com/home/showdocument?id=60388