The city of Santa Barbara will hold two community outreach meetings regarding upcoming construction on the Milpas Street at U.S. Highway 101 Operational Improvements Project on Feb. 21 and Feb. 28.

The Feb. 21 meeting will be held 5:30-7 p.m. online via Zoom, RSVP: https://santabarbaraca-gov.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_xan86L8ATiyXp3Wy5RTZUQ.

The Feb. 28 meeting will be held in-person, 5:30-7 p.m. at Franklin Elementary School, 1111 E. Montecito St., Santa Barbara.

The project, the city said, is key to the success and safe operation of the U.S. Highway 101 Widening Project (HOV Project) and will address expected traffic impacts from the HOV Project.

The project will improve traffic operations along Milpas Street between the Highway 101 southbound on- and off-ramps and will include the following improvements:

Widening Milpas Street at the northeast corner of the Milpas and Hutash streets intersection to provide space for a new dedicated southbound left-turn lane onto eastbound Hutash Street. This will allow Highway 101 on- and off-ramp traffic to move concurrently when no traffic is queued in the new left turn lane;

Traffic signal modifications at the Milpas and Hutash streets intersection to optimize signal phasing and reduce wait time at intersections;

Extending the existing median south of the U.S. Highway 101 underpass to the intersection of Milpas and Cacique streets to prohibit left turns from southbound Milpas Street onto eastbound Cacique Street. This will help prevent southbound off-ramp traffic from queueing onto southbound Highway 101. Eastbound Cacique Street will have access from northbound Milpas Street via the hook off-ramp.

Installation of a multiuse path along Milpas Street between Cacique and Hutash streets. This facility was a community-requested safety need to separate cyclists from vehicles due to the high traffic volumes in this area.

To learn more or ask questions about the project, contact: MilpasHwy101@SantaBarbaraCA.gov or visit SantaBarbaraCA.gov/MilpasHwy101.