Empire Grade
A ridge road above Santa Cruz, linking forest, open hills and the Bonny Doon area.
Loading map…
Road shape
- Length
- 16.7 mi
- Bends
- 50
- Switchbacks
- 5
- Bends per mile
- 3
- Turning per mile
- 308°
- Curviest rank
- 66of 85
Measured from the OpenStreetMap centreline at a 20 m sampling step — road shape only, not a safety or speed judgement. How bends are counted.
Elevation
- Total climb
- 3,666ft
- Climb per mile
- 220ft
- Highest point
- 2,625ft
- Steepest grade
- 8.8%
Sampled every 100 m from USGS 10 m elevation data, a public-domain federal dataset. Total climb counts vertical change in both directions, so it does not depend on which way you drive. How elevation is measured.
Speed limits
40 mph
Published limits
40 mph outside Santa Cruz city limits; city sections vary.
Santa Cruz County code specifies 40 mph from the city limits to the end. City sections may differ.
Posted signs always govern. How speed evidence is handled.
Sources
Difficulty 2/3 (Winding) is our editorial rating of width, bends and sightlines; “Medium speed” describes character, not a target speed. Full method. Identified from:
- Best Biking Roads · Santa Cruz loop ↗
- r/bayarea · Favorite driving roads ↗
- OpenStreetMap road data ↗ (18 ways in this trace)
Reviewed 2026-09-08. The trace shows selected road sections, not a navigation route.