The Montecito segment of the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project adding a third lane in each direction.
The Montecito segment of the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project adding a third lane in each direction. Credit: Santa Barbara County Association of Governments illustration

Highway 101 construction is already affecting traffic through Montecito, and now that community’s segment of the widening project is starting.  

The huge project is adding a third, carpool-designated lane in each direction between Santa Barbara and Carpinteria. Bridges and overpasses are being widened, on-ramps and off-ramps are being reconfigured, and surface street projects such as roundabouts are being built to help local traffic.

Carpinteria’s section is finished and being landscaped, said Kirsten Ayars, a representative for the project and agencies including Caltrans and the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments.

The Padaro and Summerland phases are under construction, and the Montecito segment is starting in mid-June, she said. The Santa Barbara section, the last section, is still being permitted and funded.

A map of construction phases and progress for the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project adding a third lane in each direction.
A map of construction phases and progress for the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project adding a third lane in each direction. Credit: Courtesy photo

A community meeting is scheduled for 4 p.m. Thursday at the Montecito Inn, 1295 Coast Village Road, to review construction staging for the Montecito segment: the Romero Creek bridge north to Olive Mill Road.

Work on this section is scheduled through 2026, according to Ayars.

The county Planning Commission approved the Montecito segment plans in December.

Two residents appealed the project to the Board of Supervisors, mainly objecting to the decision to replace sound walls with chain-link fences for flooding concerns. The supervisors denied the appeal and upheld the project approval in April.  

Click here for more information about the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project.

The Padaro segment of the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project adding a third lane in each direction.
The Padaro segment of the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project adding a third lane in each direction. Credit: Courtesy photo
The Summerland segment of the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project adding a third lane in each direction.
The Summerland segment of the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project adding a third lane in each direction. Credit: Courtesy photo

More information on the Padaro segment.

More information on the Summerland segment.

More information on the Montecito segment.

More information on the Santa Claus Lane Bikeway project.

More information on the roundabout at Olive Mill and Coast Village roads, which is nearly completed.

More information on the roundabout at San Ysidro Road and North Jameson Lane, which will start construction this summer.

Farther south, in an unrelated project, Caltrans District 7 is working on pavement rehabilitation near Mussel Shoals and the Santa Barbara-Ventura county line.

The project includes bypass lanes with concrete barriers, first on the southbound side and now on the northbound side of Highway 101. There have been several vehicle crashes, including two fatalities, in the construction zone in the past month.

That pavement rehabilitation project construction is scheduled through winter 2023-24.

Noozhawk managing editor Giana Magnoli can be reached at gmagnoli@noozhawk.com.