A popular, but unmarked, Highway 101 exit in Santa Barbara is about to meet a dead end.

Officials plan to eliminate “exit 95,” which leads to Los Patos Road next to the Andree Clark Bird Refuge. The Union Pacific railroad bridge is also set for demolition, and crews plan to remove about 100 trees.

The Santa Barbara Planning Commission is set to vote Thursday on whether to approve a coastal development permit and certify the environmental impact report for the underpass.

“The southbound exit has been problematic over the years as trucks often don’t make the clearance, which can disrupt Highway 101 traffic and totally stop rail travel,” Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse said. “It’s been a long time coming.”

Union Pacific wants to remove the Los Patos underpass in conjunction with construction of the new Cabrillo/Union Pacific railroad bridge. Union Pacific wants the bridge removed to avoid continued maintenance and potential crashes or accidents.

In addition, Union Pacific has said that it wants the underpass removed over concerns that it would become “an attractive nuisance.”

The bridge, built in 1901, has only a 12-foot, 3-inch clearance, which makes it a dangerous exit for some RVs and big trucks.

The closure of the offramp is part of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments/Caltrans Highway 101 High Occupancy Vehicle Widening Project expected to be completed by 2030.

Caltrans has been working on widening Highway 101 between Ventura and Santa Barbara for nearly a decade. The underpass is a parallel city project to the freeway widening. Once the underpass is removed, the area will be filled with material and steel, gravel, iron and stonework, to support the new train crossing.

Crews plan to build a shoofly (rail bypass) to allow continued train travel during construction of a new rail bridge over Cabrillo Boulevard. A replacement offramp will be constructed as part of the U.S. 101 HOV project (redesign of the U.S. 101\Cabrillo interchange) and to be in operation before closing Los Patos Way as an offramp.

The shoofly will be constructed on the north side of the existing mainline track and will be built entirely on Union Pacific right-of-way.

Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said she would like to see a scenario in which the railroad bridge is restored and the Los Patos exit is preserved.

“The offramp is in a convenient location to access the bird refuge, the cemetery, the Post, but it’s really the historic bridge that is worth preserving,” Sneddon said. “I would still like to see an option that preserves the historic Los Patos bridge.”

Thursday’s meeting is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Santa Barbara City Hall, 735 Anacapa St.