Live Oak Is the Traffic Lower Seabright Is Missing. On Foot, the Murray Street Bridge Still Runs Both Ways.

The Murray Street Bridge reopened on Monday, Sept. 28. Drivers get one lane, and it only goes east, toward the harbor and Live Oak. Getting home from Seabright is a straight shot again. Driving from Live Oak to Seabright still means the westbound detour on 7th Avenue, Soquel Avenue and Seabright Avenue, and the city expects longer travel times and heavier congestion on that route.

So the direction that reopened is the one lower Seabright needs least. The shops and restaurants on the far end of the bridge depend on people coming from Live Oak, and drivers still can't get there directly. Pedestrians can. The bridge is open to people on foot in both directions.

Santa Cruz has had this setup before

The fall layout isn't new. Murray Street first went eastbound-only in January 2026, after a full closure that ran from June 2025 into January. In early March the city tried a pilot that alternated traffic in both directions through the single lane. That pilot ended after about a week because of congestion and unsafe driving, and the bridge went back to eastbound-only until it closed again on June 10. The Santa Cruz Sentinel covered that sequence in May.

About a week into the January reopening, Lookout Santa Cruz talked to Hans Haveman of H&H Fresh Fish Co. in the harbor. He called the one-way bridge "a breath of fresh air," though he said warm weather and local Dungeness crab could explain part of the busy week. In the same story, merchants on the Seabright Avenue end said they had seen no change since the eastbound lane reopened.

The Sentinel's reporting accounts for the gap.

Without traffic coming in from the east side of the bridge, many commuters skip over the Seabright neighborhood altogether, and stores lose business.

That line comes from the Sentinel's May reporting. The same piece separates businesses people plan a trip to from the ones they stop at on the way past. Patrice Boyle, owner of La Posta Restaurant on Seabright Avenue, said reservations make her restaurant a destination, so customers are more willing to take the long detour. Coffee shops, bars and corner stores like Day's Market rely on people who are already in the area.

The east side is Live Oak. Before construction, the Sentinel reported, more than 17,000 cars crossed the Murray Street Bridge on a typical weekday. For now, the only westbound crossings into lower Seabright are on foot or on a bike someone is walking.

How each way across works this fall

All of the following comes from the city's Murray Street Bridge project page, last updated Sept. 28, 2026.

For anyone heading from Live Oak to Seabright, the walking route is the direct one. Riders can also get off and walk their bikes across. The city asks people walking bikes on the sidewalk to be courteous to pedestrians.

Under the bridge, things are more complicated. The project page lists these closures and detours:

• East Harbor Access Road, under the bridge: closed. The walking detour uses Eaton Street, 7th Avenue and the Brommer Street entrance to the Upper Harbor. The city release puts the reopening in February 2027.
• West Harbor stairs, from Murray Street down to the lower west harbor: closed. The detour uses Atlantic Avenue, Seabright Avenue and Murray Street. Scheduled to reopen in May 2027.
• West Harbor Access Road, under the bridge: open.

A different section of the same city page still says the east harbor path will reopen later than "the previously anticipated February 2026 timeframe" and gives no new date. The Sept. 14 release and the "Walking Right Now" panel both give February 2027, which is the more recent information.

The water route through October

There's one more free way between the two sides of the harbor, and it skips the bridge entirely. The Santa Cruz Port District's inner-harbor water taxi stops at X-1 Gate, AA Dock and the Launch Ramp. Riders can park in the north harbor near X Dock. The Port's October calendar shows service Fridays from 3 to 7 p.m. and weekends from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., through Oct. 31. The Port updates the taxi calendar month to month, and no November dates had been posted when this was written.

Where the walk across leads

Here's what sits at each end of the crossing, using the Port District's business roster and recent local reporting. Hours change with the season, so check with each business before heading out.

On the Live Oak side:

• Crow's Nest Restaurant, 2218 East Cliff Drive, serves lunch and dinner daily from its beach location and has an upstairs lounge.
• Java Junction, 2222 East Cliff Drive, Suite 130, serves espresso, smoothies, tea, sandwiches, bagels and baked goods.
• Johnny's Harborside, 493 Lake Avenue, is open for lunch and dinner and has harbor views and a full bar.
• H&H Fresh Fish Co., Kayak Connection and SUP Shack are also on the Port's roster.

Across the bridge, in lower Seabright and the west harbor:

• La Posta Restaurant, Brady's Yacht Club, Betty Burgers and the second Java Junction are all on Seabright Avenue, according to the Sentinel.
• Aldo's is serving from Mariner Park on the west side of the yacht harbor while construction continues.

Java Junction is on both lists. In May, owner Michael Spadafora told the Sentinel he was working on ads to bring east-side customers to the harbor shop and Westside customers to the Seabright café.

A raffle that counts both sides

The Port District restarted Harboropoly, its holiday receipt campaign, on Oct. 1. It covers harbor businesses plus everything along lower Seabright and lower 7th Avenue. Pick up a gameboard at the harbor office, at a participating business, or as a download. Keep receipts as proof of purchase, and collect free activity stamps at the harbor office. Each business counts once per visit, and you can collect squares from several businesses in one day. A business doesn't have to be printed on the board to count. If you're unsure, save the receipt and turn it in with your board.

Completed boards are due at the harbor office, 135 5th Avenue, by 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2026. The drawing is Jan. 8, 2027.

A walk from Live Oak across the bridge for coffee on Seabright Avenue, then back for dinner on East Cliff Drive, fills two squares. It also brings customers to the side of the bridge that cars still can't reach directly.

The rest of the harbor calendar

1. Last Wednesday Night Sailboat Races. The Port's races run 6:30 to 8 p.m. and wrap up in October.
2. Haunted Harbor, Saturday, Oct. 24, 3 to 6 p.m. Family trick-or-treating around the harbor. The free water taxi runs 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. that day, and visitor parking is near X Dock in the North Harbor.
3. 39th Annual Lighted Boat Parade, Saturday, Dec. 5, 5:30 p.m. About 50 decorated boats, with snacks and hot drinks in the south harbor, according to the Port District.

What's left before both directions return

The city expects the eastbound-only setup to last for most of the rest of the project. Two more full closures are planned: one week in February 2027 and two weeks in December 2027. The city will give advance notice before each one.

The project is scheduled to finish in January 2028 at an estimated cost of $50 million. The finished bridge will have 6-foot bike lanes, a 7.5-foot two-way sidewalk on the ocean side, and see-through rails in place of the solid concrete barriers, which will open up views of the harbor and the ocean. The work also includes a new, larger County sewer force main serving Live Oak, Capitola, Soquel and Aptos.

The Murray Street Bridge has a few more years of construction ahead, and that shapes daily life on both sides of the harbor and how people see those streets. If you own a home near East Cliff Drive or the harbor and want to talk through what that means for your plans, the team at Room Real Estate knows these blocks well. Request a Quote and we'll start with the streets you live on.