Valencia Road Repair expected to be complete by mid February

A year after Valencia Road in Aptos was washed out by the Winter storms, it is just a few weeks away from completion.

The washed out road made driving in the area challenging for months and even shut down the near by Valencia Elementary school, sending students to different schools in the area.

The school re-opened back in August, now road repairs are almost done.

Principal of Valencia Elementary School, Caryn Lane, says they are thrilled to almost be done. “We are so grateful for all the hard work from all of the construction companies and our county workers, and we’re just very excited to finally be at the end of the project,” says Lane.

Wednesday was the school’s first day back in session after winter break. While many were expecting a lot of back-up, some like Eve Lundsten say it wasn’t too bad, “Some days are just a
nightmare, especially if I need to go into town after I drop my son off at school, but today was actually really great.”

The county and workers have been working diligently in hopes of getting the road back to normal. Jason Hoppin with Santa Cruz County says this project has been a top priority.

The temporary bridge was removed this past week and a one lane road is now in place. The road will mostly be directed by traffic lights except during peak traffic hours. “There is about five different roads coming in right near that point so we’re gonna have flaggers out there during peak traffic hours to make sure things run as smoothly as possible but we’re asking people to plug in a little extra time during the morning and evening trips” Hoppin says.

Hoppin says the road should be complete by mid- February depending on how the weather cooperates. The lights being installed at the Trout Gulch Road and Soquel Drive are also expected to be finished in the coming weeks.

Santa Cruz County suffered $122,000,000 worth of damage from last winter’s storms. Valencia Road was the most expensive project costing about $5,000,000.