Supervisors reflected on a 60-year legacy and hundreds of millions of dollars in funding for local projects Tuesday as they recognized the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments.
The organization was created as a regional partnership to pursue parks funding in 1966 and became SBCAG in 1990. Its professional staff and board of elected officials meet regularly to pursue transportation projects and other improvements that cross jurisdictional boundaries.
“Some things work better when we work on them together,” Executive Director Marjie Kirn said.
Local voters have supported the agency’s mission by supporting tax initiatives — Measure D in 1989 and Measure A in 2008 — to provide matching funds to leverage more state and federal dollars, Kirn noted.
The Highway 101 widening is the biggest project, with a roughly billion-dollar budget that includes more than $760 million in state and federal resources. “We couldn’t have done that on our own,” she said.
Adding a third, peak-hour carpool lane between Santa Barbara and Ventura County aims to reduce longstanding traffic bottlenecks in the area.
“I know it’s taken a long time and we’ve all been very patient,” Kirn said. “I like to say 101 is almost done.”
Construction has shifted northbound over the years, with work in Montecito expected to finish later this year. The Santa Barbara segment, including the Cabrillo Boulevard interchange, should be done in 2028, Kirn said.
In North County, Measure A money is funding a Highway 135 corridor study for Santa Maria and Orcutt, with help from Caltrans, the county and the city of Santa Maria, Kirn said. In the Santa Ynez Valley, groups are working together on a 9-mile multiuse trail.
“The projects are very different, just as the communities they serve are very different, but it’s the same idea that brought us together 60 years ago” — that they can accomplish more by working together, she said.
The Board of Supervisors recognized SBCAG with a resolution during Tuesday’s meeting.
Fifth District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino said the SBCAG Board of Directors is “one of my favorite meetings to go to.” The board includes all five supervisors and representatives of all eight cities in the county.
“People have put their trust in you,” he said to Kirn and SBCAG staff, pointing to the Measure A passage. “SBCAG continues to deliver” by completing projects year over year, he added.
Measure A is a half-cent sales tax dedicated to transportation improvements in Santa Barbara County and was approved by 79% of voters. It was expected to generate about $1 billion in funding (in 2010 dollars).
For the 2024-25 year, the Measure A report shows SBCAG spent about $19 million of those revenues on the Highway 101 project; $22 million on North County projects; and $19 million on South Coast projects.
