Most people know the Highway 1 work through Aptos as a freeway project with auxiliary lanes and bus-on-shoulder service. Its finished pieces so far are crossings: the Chanticleer Avenue overcrossing, the rebuilt Capitola Avenue bridge, and next the Mar Vista Drive bridge for cyclists and pedestrians. The lanes those bridges were built around are still under construction behind k-rail. Their finish date has moved from fall 2026 into 2027, depending on which official source you check.
That order matters on an ordinary October weeknight. Crews are working in the median and two southbound ramps are still closed, so a lot of local trips now run on Soquel Drive and McGregor Drive. The project is changing how Aptos gets across the freeway well before it changes how anyone drives along it.
This month's closures, in one place
The newest Caltrans notice, published October 1, 2026, schedules overnight lane reductions starting Tuesday, October 6. The work runs Sunday night through Friday morning for about three weeks. Crews are grading and paving the median behind k-rail, and Caltrans says to expect noise. This round follows a lane 1 closure that began September 27.
| What's affected | Where | When | Detour or status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northbound Highway 1, lane 2 | Aptos Creek Bridge to the Mar Vista crossing / State Park on-ramp | 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., starting Oct. 6, about three weeks | One lane stays open |
| Southbound Highway 1, lane 2 | Capitola Bridge to the Mar Vista crossing / State Park off-ramp | 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., starting Oct. 6, about three weeks | One lane stays open |
| Southbound on-ramp at Park Avenue | Park Avenue interchange | Closed since Sunday, April 19, for an estimated six months | Soquel Drive or McGregor Drive to the State Park Drive on-ramp |
| Southbound off-ramp at Bay Avenue | Bay Avenue / Porter Street | Closed since August 2 for about four months | Exit at Park Avenue, then Park Avenue and Soquel Drive back toward Porter/Bay |
The Park Avenue on-ramp closure is the longest one, and the reason is construction, not paperwork. The RTC says the southbound side needs a full structural replacement of the roadway to carry bus-on-shoulder traffic. Six months from April 19 lands in the second half of October, but that was an estimate. The RTC has not announced a reopening date. The Bay Avenue off-ramp is being rebuilt for the same reason, and its four-month window points to early winter. That is an inference from the stated duration, not a promised date.
Both detours run through Soquel Drive. For a southbound driver, Soquel Drive has stood in for one on-ramp since spring and for one off-ramp since August. On full-closure nights, like the overnight shutdowns the RTC scheduled for September 20 and 21, it carried the whole freeway.
What's already finished is a set of crossings
Phase I, from 41st Avenue to Soquel Drive, was finished in spring 2025. It added auxiliary lanes and the bicycle and pedestrian overcrossing at Chanticleer Avenue. Phase II, from Bay Avenue/Porter Street to State Park Drive, is the stretch under construction now. It opened its first finished piece around the start of February 2026. That was the new Capitola Avenue overcrossing, open to people on foot, on bikes and in cars, and linking Soquel Drive with the future Coastal Rail Trail.
The lanes are still moving targets. The RTC's construction page, updated September 15, 2026, says Phase II is expected to finish in 2026. The RTC's own project schedule lists construction as "Spring 2024-2027." In August, RTC staff told commissioners they expected Phase II to be finished in spring or summer 2027, according to the Santa Cruz Sentinel. Planning around a range is safer than planning around a date.
The Mar Vista bridge is the one Aptos will feel most
The Mar Vista overcrossing is mainly a neighborhood connector. The RTC's fact sheet describes the link as running from Mar Vista Drive at McGregor Drive in Seacliff to Mar Vista Elementary School on the Aptos side. The route skips the State Park Drive interchange and cuts that trip by up to 1.6 miles. The RTC also names Seacliff State Beach, Cabrillo College, Aptos Village and Seacliff Village as places the crossing will make easier to reach. Lookout Santa Cruz puts the Aptos landing southeast of Cabrillo College.
Under today's road layout, a walk or bike ride from Seacliff to the far side of the freeway means going through the State Park interchange. That is the same interchange where the off-ramp shut down this past winter for soundwall work and where the current overnight lane closures end. The Mar Vista bridge takes that trip out of the interchange entirely.
Construction has gone step by step through 2026:
- February: Lookout reported that bridge work would stretch over roughly eight months, with about 25 workdays of heavy lifts and removal of temporary supports, and that several McGregor Drive closures would come with it.
- March 19: Sentinel photos showed the bridge crossing only one direction of Highway 1.
- June 18: Crews were pumping and pouring concrete, and McGregor Drive was closed at Mar Vista Drive for nine hours.
- September 20 and 21: The RTC scheduled full overnight closures of Highway 1 in Aptos, with detours over Soquel Drive between the Park Avenue and State Park Drive ramps.
The RTC has not given an opening day. In January, RTC Executive Director Sarah Christensen said the new Mar Vista bridge was expected "later this year." With three months left in 2026, the RTC's posted updates are the best place to watch for a date.
Past State Park Drive, the next phase begins with bridges too
South of State Park Drive, nothing is under construction yet. The planned Phase III runs from State Park Drive to Freedom Boulevard. It adds auxiliary lanes and bus-on-shoulder facilities, replaces two railroad bridges between State Park Drive and Rio del Mar, and widens the Highway 1 bridge over Aptos Creek and Spreckels Drive. It also builds Segment 12 of the Coastal Rail Trail, about 1.25 miles from State Park Drive to Rio del Mar Boulevard. In June 2025, the state awarded $128.7 million for that work, which includes four trail overcrossings over Highway 1 and Soquel Drive.
So the next stretch of corridor follows the same pattern, with more of its scope going to crossings and trail than to new freeway lanes. The RTC's project page, published in June 2026, still says construction could begin as soon as 2026. The more recent estimate, reported by the Sentinel in August, puts groundbreaking in fall 2027.
Financing is what keeps that date in place. In August the commission voted unanimously to issue up to $75 million in bonds this fiscal year. RTC staff estimate Phase III will need $50 million this year and another $50 million in fiscal year 2027–28. Measure D, the sales tax voters approved in 2016, is not bringing in money as fast as the projects need it. Commissioner Fred Keeley explained it simply. He pointed to an estimated 4% interest rate, compared with material and labor costs that are likely to rise faster:
"There's nothing exotic about this at all. It's what public agencies do to make sure you get your projects done on time and on budget."
Commissioner Andy Schiffrin said he generally dislikes bonding because of the interest cost. He still saw the case for borrowing for the final highway phase.
Planning the rest of the fall around it
For anyone who lives between Rio del Mar and the Park Avenue interchange, the practical calendar for the next few months looks like this:
- October 6 through late October: Expect overnight lane 2 reductions between the Aptos Creek and Capitola bridges, Sunday night through Friday morning, with median paving noise after dark.
- Second half of October: The six-month estimate for the southbound Park Avenue on-ramp runs out. Until the RTC confirms it has reopened, use Soquel Drive or McGregor Drive to reach State Park Drive.
- Early winter: The four-month estimate for the southbound Bay Avenue off-ramp runs out. Until then, southbound drivers heading for Porter/Bay exit at Park Avenue.
- Before year's end, if January's forecast holds: The Mar Vista overcrossing opens and connects Seacliff to the Aptos side without the State Park interchange.
- Spring or summer 2027: Phase II lanes finish, based on the most recent staff estimate.
- Fall 2027: Estimated groundbreaking for Phase III and Segment 12, south toward Rio del Mar.
The RTC posts closure updates weekly on its construction page and offers an email list for notices.
A new crossing changes how a street connects to the beach, the college and the village. A buyer is likely to look at that, and a seller can mention it. If you live near the Mar Vista landing or along the Soquel Drive detour and want to know how the corridor's next year might affect what your home is worth, Caroll Basile can walk through it with you, quietly and in detail. Start with a free home valuation.
