Dear Street Smarts,
Q: In view of Highway 9 between Felton and Paradise Park being very narrow and twisty, so many cars from San Lorenzo Valley already use Graham Hill Road, and a safe bike lane is needed up lower San Lorenzo Valley, has there been any consideration of making Highway 9 between Felton and Paradise Park a one-way road and officially moving vehicle traffic on Highway 9 for this area onto Graham Hill or to Mount Hermon roads?
Then the bike path could be on one half of what is now Highway 9 between Felton and Paradise Park. At age 77, I’m not a bicyclist, but biking is great exercise and good for the environment.
Thank you for your great column,
Charles Murray via email
A: “In order to transfer/relinquish a section Highway 9, that request would need to come from the County of Santa Cruz and currently there is no such proposal that we are aware of,” said Colin Jone public affairs manager for Caltrans District 5, which serves the Central Coast. “It’s pretty rare that state highways are one-way and usually occur only where there is a ‘couplet’, a pair of one-way streets that carry traffic through a downtown, urban grid area like Highway 129 in Watsonville.”
While the adjacent Glen Arbor and Graham Hill Roads serve as alternate routes around sections of the highway, there is no alternate route along the entire Highway 9 corridor, “which would make such a one-way reconfiguration challenging,” Jones added.
Tips from the DMV
Below are a couple things you probably didn’t know, provided by the DMV’s transportation column, called Ask the DMV:
- If a relative has a vehicle and asks you to sell it for them, that is illegal. Instead, help find a buyer. The transaction must occur between the vehicle’s registered owner and the prospective buyer. Learn more at http://www.DMV.ca.gov/vr/topbuysell.htm.
- If you experience a temporary health condition that does or does not impact your ability to drive safely, you do not need to notify the DMV. Pregnancy or broken bones are examples of temporary conditions. However, if you break your right leg, while you do not have to tell the DMV, you should not drive until it is safe to do so.
