Highway 154 in Santa Barbara has been partially closed for over a week, with no word on when Caltrans might reopen it.

The closure has increased traffic on Highway 101 and cut off a major route between the North County and South County, causing widespread frustration for residents and commuters.

Caltrans crews noticed tension cracks in the San Antonio Creek Road area last Thursday and closed a portion of the roadway soon after.

There have been crews on the scene 24 hours a day doing a drilling operation to stabilize the roadway, Caltrans District 5 spokesperson Genelle Padilla said.

Drilling is expected to continue through the rest of the week and weekend, she said Thursday afternoon.

Crews are placing 140 rods into the pavement and then securing those with horizontal anchors and filling them with grout to prevent future movement.

Once drilling is complete Caltrans will be monitoring pavement conditions before determining when they will reopen the highway, according to Padilla.

Cold Spring Tavern Feeling Closure Impacts

Caltrans is telling drivers the roadway is closed from the roundabout at Highway 246 in the Santa Ynez Valley to Highway 192 in Santa Barbara.

While vehicles can’t cross the damaged area, from San Antonio Creek Road to Painted Cave Road, local and business traffic can travel within other parts closure.

Visitors can still get to Lake Cachuma and Cold Spring Tavern from the Santa Ynez Valley side, for example.

Jan Wilson, whose family owns Cold Spring Tavern on Stagecoach Road off of Highway 154, said their customers and employees have had problems getting to the restaurant, customers have been canceling reservations, and business is slower than usual. 

“It’s definitely impacting the business,” Wilson said. “We do have business, people are getting to us, they’re finding us, but it’s slow.”

In the first few days of the closure Wilson said customers were turned away at the Highway 246/154 roundabout and employees also had trouble getting through, but now people have been able to get through to the restaurant. 

Wilson said that unclear signage has caused some confusion for customers. On the Santa Ynez side of the highway there are signs allowing business and local traffic, but not on the Santa Barbara side. 

“On the Santa Barbara side, we don’t have any signage to indicate that it’s okay to access the businesses on 154,” Wilson said. “That would help.”

Wilson said she’s had good communication with Caltrans over the closure and that she’s focused on letting customers know that they’re still there and people can get to them.

“I totally understand and support Caltrans and Santa Barbara County for wanting to limit the traffic, especially on San Marcos Road, but we are also a business,” Wilson said. “We have employees and we’re trying to weather this situation as best we can.”

Detour Traffic

During the closure, the California Highway Patrol is asking vehicles over 30 feet long or pulling trailers that are longer than 30 feet to avoid Old San Marcos Road and instead take Highway 101, according to Officer Jon Gutierrez. 

In response to the increased traffic from so many cars detouring onto Highway 101, Caltrans opened the second southbound lane through the construction zone near Buellton and Gaviota.

Residents can keep track of road closures and changes on the Caltrans QuickMap.

Third District County Supervisor Joan Hartmann said that herself and the people in her district have been dealing with increased traffic on Highway 101.

“One of the big impacts is, of course, that the 154 traffic is going on the 101, and so it’s really slowing things down,” Hartmann said. “It’s a lot of congestion, and you have to really slow down. Everybody’s been experiencing that all times of the day.”

Hartmann said it took her an hour and 40 minutes to get from the Santa Ynez Valley to the Board of Supervisors meeting in Santa Barbara on Tuesday, when normally it would only take her 50 minutes. 

Last Friday, soon after the tension cracks were discovered, Caltrans told Hartmann’s office that the closure could last up to a month, she said. However, she told Noozhawk she has not heard any updates about the timeline since then. 

Hartmann said that besides getting updates from Caltrans about the closure, there’s not much she, or her office, can do. 

“They’re the experts,” Hartmann said. “They’re doing the very best that they can do.”