The secret exit is going away.
Unmarked, the Highway 101 offramp that leads to Los Patos Way is set to get erased along with the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge above it.
The exit has a number, 95, but no name, and leads to the Andree Clark Bird Refuge, and commercial buildings, and, eventually, Cabrillo Boulevard.
The bridge, built in 1901, before the Model T Ford was invented, only has a 12-foot, 3-inch-tall clearance, which makes it a dangerous exit for some RVs and certainly 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.
Union Pacific Railroad has requested removal of the Los Patos Underpass in conjunction with construction of the new Cabrillo/Union Pacific railroad. Union Pacific Railroad wants the bridge removed to avoid continued maintenance and potential crashes or accidents. Essentially Union Pacific wants the work done at the same time.
The Santa Barbara Planning Commission reviewed the environmental impact report at last week’s meeting, and the discussion sparked wider conversation about what should replace the offramp.
“This site is a real jewel, it truly is a jewel, and this is a beginning of how we can re-utilize all of this land,” said Commissioner Brian Barnwell.
Eric Goodall, engineering project manager from the city’s Public Works Department, presented a rendering of what the offramp would look like, showing a nicely paved driveway for service workers at the end of a cul-de-sac.
“That is city land that is being used for basically for the lowest order of use I can think of, as an access driveway for service personnel that already has access,” Barnwell said.
The commissioner, and former Santa Barbara City Councilmember, asked if that area “could be a restaurant with two floors of residential above it.”
Barnwell said the land has value and that he wanted to plant the seed for some creative thinking.
“It seems to me, going up way high in the air and doing what we’re supposed to do which is be a planning commission, not a ‘we say yes to projects that come in front of us commission,’ in terms of planning, that could be a destination site that we are overlooking,” Barnwell said.
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.
Rather than just vacating the land, Barnwell thought the city could donate the spot to the Santa Barbara Housing Authority for affordable housing. Down Los Patos Way is a development called “The Post,” which includes restaurants that Barnwell called “tasty beyond belief.”
The project also involves the removal of about 100 trees. Those trees will be replanted, although the city does not know where yet.
“We have areas in the city that just don’t have enough shade in their neighborhoods,” said planning commissioner Lesley Wiscomb. “This is a golden opportunity to populate those areas with some trees.”
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 prior to 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 UPRR right-of-way.
The EIR is open for public comment through May 27.