After years of traffic, noise and construction, Santa Barbara County officials want the public to know: “101 is almost done.”
Marjie Kirn, executive director of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, said that phrase is her personal motto as she welcomed a crowd Friday to celebrate the completion of the Highway 101 widening project from Padaro to Summerland.
“It is truly a testament to building partnership and consensus and creating a project that is planned, designed and built for our community,” Kirn said.
Summerland and Padaro are the latest segments of the project to be completed. Construction was split into two parts, with Summerland and Padaro part of the fourth and final stage of the project.
The last two sections in the fourth phase are the segments of Highway 101 that go through Santa Barbara and Montecito. Crews have already completed seven of the 10.9 miles between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara.
Construction is taking place in the northbound lanes of the highway through Santa Barbara. Work on the northbound side will be completed this summer, and then workers will begin work on the southbound side of Highway 101, according to Kirsten Ayars, a spokeswoman for the project.
Once construction is complete, the highway will have new sound walls, a bridge, and a new northbound off-ramp and a southbound on-ramp at Cabrillo Boulevard. The highway also will feature new carpool lanes going in both directions.
The full cost for the final phase of the widening project is $700 million. The project is funded through a measure of federal, state and local revenue, including Measure A.
“In June, we’re hoping to get funding in the last portion of the Santa Barbara segment, which is the biggest portion. It goes from Montecito to Sycamore Creek, and that would be under construction from 2026 to 2028,” Ayars said.
She added that the schedule depends on the weather, and recent rainy weather could push back the timeline.
Other construction along Highway 101 includes the section along Goleta near the San Jose Creek Bridge.
Joe Erwin, the Santa Barbara corridor manager for Caltrans, said work on Highway 101 in Goleta will continue for a few more months into the summer as crews continue construction. He said the highway will return to three lanes in each direction once construction crews have finished.
To celebrate the completion of the Summerland and Padaro sections, representatives from the California legislature, Santa Barbara County and SBCAG held a ribbon-cutting ceremony on Friday.
The event was held at 101 Innovation Place, overlooking the highway.
One of the speakers at the event was Assemblyman Gregg Hart, who represents District 37. Hart called the project an investment in the region’s future.
“When the project is done and it’s all wrapped up … we will have taken our $140 million promise that we made to voters in 2008 and turned it into more than $1 billion in transportation investments in our community,” Hart said. “That’s a really great return on those taxpayer dollars.”
Also speaking at the event was Santa Barbara County First District Supervisor Roy Lee, who praised the widening project for how it included the community in its planning. He said Caltrans has been meeting with local groups, businesses and residents since 2008 to learn about how the project should reflect the community.
Lee said the end result is a project they can be proud of.
“Our tax dollars were prioritized specifically to reduce traffic congestion, keep cars on the freeway and get our local roads back to normal,” Lee said. “Now that this part of the Highway 101 project is complete, we’re already seeing less congestion, safer roads and improved quality of life for people in the Summerland area.”