The road to a better Highway 101 now goes through Summerland.
Construction began Nov. 1 on the Highway 101 project that will add carpool lanes during commuter times, new bridges and undercrossings at Evans Avenue and Sheffield Drive, new onramps and offramps as well as drainage improvements.
The area has not been updated since the highway was built in the 1950s.
“This is a major milestone event,” said Gregg Hart, chairman of the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors and a member of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments. “The continuation of the 101 widening project through Carpinteria all the way to Montecito is the next-to-last segment of the completion of the whole project, which has been in the works for nearly 20 years.”
The improvements are part of the decades-long effort to improve traffic congestion on Highway 101 between Ventura and Santa Barbara County counties.
The overall Highway 101 project is expected to cost $700 million. This leg of the project in Summerland is estimated to cost about $113 million. The project is funded by the California Transportation Commission, and the previous portions of the widening project were funded by SB1, state funds and Measure A.
“In combination with the final segment, which will be through Montecito, this will complete the three-lane widening,” Hart said. “The traffic congestion benefits will not only appear on the highway, but local road congestion from commuters who are taking shortcuts through residential neighborhoods will evaporate because drivers will go back to the highway.”
Side roads through Montecito and even Coast Village Road often back up because of the traffic congestion on Highway 101.
The Highway 101 Summerland project is expected to be completed by 2023, with the entire project possibly done as early as 2026.
Over the summer, SBCAG and Caltrans applied for $230 million in state funding for the remaining segments in Montecito and Santa Barbara to complete construction along the corridor. The California Transportation Commission will vote on funding awards in early December.
Hart said that earlier projections called for the completion of the project in 2027.
“At that time, we had no idea where the money would come from,” Hart said. “To have this lined up a year in advance of our projections is remarkable.”
The Summerland project will create new right-hand onramps and offramps at the Sheffield Drive interchange. Currently, southbound vehicles are traveling up over Ortega Hill Road and traffic is merging on and off the freeway with old, sub-standard left-hand ramps, according to a news release. Soundwalls will also be installed along a portion of North Jameson Lane and along Highway 101 near Ortega Hill Road.
Construction began Sunday night with safety fencing, vegetation removal, tree trimming, safety barriers to shift lanes, and work to build up outside shoulders. Eventually, lanes will be shifted, and construction will focus on the median and fast lanes of Highway 101. For more information, visit the project’s website at SBROADS.com.
First District Supervisor Das Williams, who is also a member of SBCAG, filmed a video in which he discussed the benefits of the project. He told Noozhawk that he’s looking forward to the improvements.
“The project brings cleaner air, a more welcoming underpass and entrance to Summerland, noise-reducing pavement, and design elements suggested by the community,” Williams said. “Like any construction project, it will be a pain in the short run but have massive benefits in the long run.”
Officials from SBCAG said they’re thrilled that the latest portion of the project has begun.
“Over the next few years, the public will see a tremendous amount of progress for congestion relief on Highway 101, progress not only with construction but on funding to complete our work through Montecito and Santa Barbara,” said Lauren Bianchi Klemman, public information officer for SBCAG. “This is only made possible thanks to voters who had the foresight to pass Measure A, our transportation sales tax, in 2008, which has been able to leverage critical state funding and turn a regional vision into a reality for carpool, public transit, bicycle, pedestrian and local road improvements.”
Click here for an overview of closures and times of work.
— Noozhawk staff writer Joshua Molina can be reached at jmolina@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.