 A volunteer committee of citizens organizes cultural exchange opportunities, humanitarian projects, and commercial ties between Santa Cruz and its sister cities.State Routes 1 and 17 are the main roads in and out of Santa Cruz, with the latter being the primary route north to San Jose and the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area.Geographically constrained between the Santa Cruz Mountains and the Monterey Bay, the narrow transportation corridor served by SR 1, California's Pacific Coast Highway, suffers excessive congestion.