It’s a key highway for more than 60,000 vehicles every day.
But, for commuters, Highway 101 from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara can also be a daily headache. From Carpinteria to Santa Barbara, Highway 101 shrinks from three to two lanes in each direction. Now, a major new state grant is going to fund contruction of new lanes to help ease the crunch.
Projects years ago added lanes through downtown Santa Barbara, and from the Rincon into Carpinteria.
The focus in recent years has been closing the gap, by adding a third lane, an HOV, or carpool lane in both directions from Carpinteria to Santa Barbara.
This week, the State Transportation Commission approved $184 million dollars in funding to fill part of that gap, from Carpinteria through Summerland. The hope is to start construction on the HOV project in the next year and a half.
Scott Eades is the 101 Corridor Manager for Caltrans District 5. He says once work is underway, they can try to get funding for the final chunk of the 101 widening effort. Eades says they will plan carefully to keep traffic flowing while the work is underway.
While local officials are excited that the State Transportation Commission approved the $184 million dollars from the new SB1 gas tax fund, they caution there is a potential problem. The state legislature approved, and the governor signed into the law creating the new tax package to fund needed transportation infrastructure projects. Some opponents qualified a measure for the November ballot to repeal it, which would jeopardize the project’s funding. Santa Barbara County Supervisor Janet Wolf says while the idea of repealing the gas tax might sound appealing, voters need to look at the consequences. She says SB1 money makes long sought projects like widening Highway 101 possible.
But for now, though, there are lot of smiles among the region’s transportation officials.
Earlier this year, the last legal challenge to the project’s environmental impact report was rejected. And last month, as a part of efforts to ease congestion new commuter rail service was added between Ventura, and Santa Barbara Counties.
It’s estimated that beyond the money that’s already committed, it could cost $200 million dollars for the final leg of the freeway widening from Summerland, into Santa Barbara. All in all, the final bill could be in the $600 million dollar range.
