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SURF! Busway and Bus Rapid Transit Project

There’s something so satisfying about seeing your friends stuck traffic while you comfortably cruise past six miles of rhythmically flashing brake lights on your own Highway 1 busway, waving to drivers stuck in stop-and-go traffic on one side, and watching the sunrise and waves crash on the beach on the other.

That’s the SURF! Busway and Bus Rapid Transit Project. 

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Project Description

The Highway 1 Busway Project, recently rebranded as SURF! Busway and Bus Rapid Transit project, is part of a larger effort to reduce regional congestion along Highway 1 and enhance transit connections within the Monterey Peninsula. The SURF! project is a proposed bus-only corridor in the Monterey Branch Line right-of-way, from Marina through Sand City and Seaside. The total length of the project is approximately 6 miles.

Segments 1 and 2 of the SURF! project propose a smooth connection between the Marina Transit Exchange and the Sand City Transit Center, paralleling Highway 1 within the Monterey Branch Line’s TAMC-owned right-of-way. Segment 3 – the final leg of alignment – would lead the bus through the California Avenue Interchange through to Contra Costa Avenue.

SURF! Video Simulation

Project Benefits

  • Improves air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
  • Increases transit use, reduce traffic on Highway 1
  • Enhances mobility, improve bicycle trail connections
  • Improves travel time reliability for transit users
  • Improves transit connections

Funding

The Highway 1 Traffic Relief - Busway was identified in the Transportation Safety and Investment Plan and approved by voters through Measure X in 2016. The project was identified to receive up to $15 million from Measure X funding to create a new rapid bus corridor along Highway 1 between Seaside and Marina. The project will utilize TAMC owned right-of-way of the Monterey Branch Line.

The multi-phased project has a variety of existing and anticipated funding sources. The current phase, preliminary engineering and environmental analysis, is funded with up to $1,450,000 in Measure X funds, and $100,000 of Monterey-Salinas Transit’s share of the State of California’s Local Partnership Program funds.

Presentations

TAMC Board Project Update, October 28, 2020

For more information about this project or how to get involved, contact Doug Bilse, Principal Engineer, at doug@tamcmonterey.org or (831) 775-4413.