Santa Cruz County RTC announces public forums for climate change study - Santa Cruz Sentinel

Santa Cruz County RTC announces public forums for climate change study - Santa Cruz Sentinel

SANTA CRUZ — As climate change impacts become more frequent and visible, local leaders are seeking to better understand vulnerabilities in Santa Cruz County’s transportation network and how best to proactively address them.

The county’s Regional Transportation Commission recently approved a public and stakeholder outreach plan for the Climate Adaptation Vulnerability Assessment and Priorities Report. The report seeks to first identify transportation infrastructure assets such as roads, bridges and trails across the county that may be impacted by climate hazards and then develop an order in which those assets should undergo a more detailed analysis for climate adaptation.

The effort is a collaboration between the transportation commission, Santa Cruz County Department of Community Development and Infrastructure, and the county’s Office of Response, Recovery and Resilience.

Key to drafting the plan is a lengthy public engagement process, which will kick off later this month and holds a special emphasis on environmental justice and hearing from vulnerable populations on the front lines of the climate crisis.

Included within the list of transportation infrastructure that will get a long look is the entirety of the 32-mile Santa Cruz Branch Rail Line, which the transportation commission has owned since 2012. To ensure that these projects eventually get done, local staff will also be working to identify state and federal funding sources that will be necessary to move the climate adaptation projects forward.

According to a recent staff report from the transportation commission, the project will update and expand upon a previous vulnerability assessment developed in 2013 by using the most up-to-date tools for mapping hazards to the local transportation network.

Since the time that report was commissioned, the county has experienced its fair share of extreme weather, sea level rise and coastal erosion. In 2017 and early 2023, intense winter storms caused more than $100 million in county transportation infrastructure damage in each respective year, according to a project fact sheet from the commission. In 2020, the CZU Lightning Complex Fire burned 86,000 acres, destroyed more than 900 homes and caused more than $15 million in damage to county transportation infrastructure.

Residents will have an opportunity to share their input at a pair of public meetings in late October. The first has been planned from 6-7:30 p.m. Oct. 25 at Lakeview Middle School, 2350 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville. Another has been scheduled from 6-7:30 p.m. Oct. 26 at the Felton Community Hall, 6191, Highway 9, Felton.

Officials are aiming to release a draft project report in September or October of next year with a goal of having transportation commission approval in early 2025.

If you go

What: Santa Cruz County Climate Adaptation Vulnerability Assessment and Transportation Priorities Report public meetings.

South County: 6-7:30 p.m., Oct. 25 at Lakeview Middle School, 2350 E. Lake Ave., Watsonville.

San Lorenzo Valley: 6-7:30 p.m., Oct. 26 at the Felton Community Hall, 6191, Highway 9.