There are certain things one comes to accept as permanent features of life in Montecito.
The Pacific Ocean. The mountains. Fine weather.
Oh, and quakes, fire—and a biblical mudslide every 20-30 years (not once a century, as realtors like to say).
And Highway 101 under construction.
It’s been going on for so long that the orange traffic cone should be California’s new state emblem.
Montecito’s First Traffic Jam
By the 1920s, planners were already worrying about traffic through Montecito.
In 1926, California highway officials reported that traffic between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara was “heavy” and “steadily increasing.”
The existing Montecito road, parts of which dated to 1909, was no longer adequate.
There were dangerous curves. There wasn’t enough capacity.
Something had to be done.
So they widened it.
Remember this. It becomes something of a theme.
That same year, the federal government introduced its numbered highway system and the great coastal road became U.S. Highway 101.
It stretched from Southern California through Santa Barbara, San Francisco and the redwoods, eventually reaching Washington State.
Through Montecito, engineers widened and straightened 1.9 miles of roadway.
The result was hailed as one of the finest sections of the Coast Highway.
Traffic problem solved.
For approximately five minutes.
More Cars, More Road
101 gradually acquired all the characteristics of an interstate: multiple lanes, controlled access, interchanges, concrete barriers—and the ability to bring enormous numbers of automobiles to a complete standstill simultaneously.
By the 1960s, officials were once again worrying about congestion through Santa Barbara and considering whether 101 should be widened from four lanes to six.
This means Santa Barbara has been discussing how to fix Highway 101 for roughly as long as the Rolling Stones have been performing.
Parts of 101 were widened. Parts weren’t.
Three lanes became two. Traffic compressed. A bottleneck was created.
101 in Motion
After many years of deliberation came 101 In Motion, the major transportation study completed in 2006.
Its finding was revolutionary: Highway 101 needed more capacity.
This discovery produced plans for transit improvements, passenger rail and, most importantly, a continuous third freeway lane in each direction between Carpinteria and Santa Barbara.
The additional lane would operate as a high-occupancy vehicle lane during peak periods.
Thus began the enormous Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project.
Twenty years after 101 In Motion, Highway 101 is certainly in motion.
Mostly sideways.
The Coast Village Road Parking Lot
The official project descriptions are reassuring.
The lived experience is somewhat different.
Take Coast Village Road. Please (as the old joke goes).
Almost every day now it becomes gridlocked from one end to the other—from circle to circle. For hours.
Once upon a time, savvy residents possessed secret knowledge.
When 101 backed up, we knew the escape routes.
And then, when Coast Village Road backed up, we could still find refuge in Hot Springs Road or Coast Village Circle.
Not anymore.
Now everyone else—thanks to GPS navigation—knows them too, transforming shortcuts into long-cuts converging into bottlenecks.
Then there is Hermosillo Road.
Someone decided in the midst of all this Coast Village Road desperately needed a traffic light. (To my knowledge, Coast Village Road has never had a traffic light.)
A temporary traffic light.
“Temporary” is one of government’s lovelier words.
Income tax was “temporary” too.
The light arrived in April at the western entrance to Coast Village Road and now interrupts what was once a free-flowing village street.
There are presumably traffic engineers who possess sophisticated computer models proving this makes perfect sense.
Those of us sitting motionless in our cars have developed a simpler analytical model.
It consists of one question: What are the roadway/traffic engineers smoking?
Especially when you consider the non-flowing circle…
No Way Out
The really clever part is that escaping Highway 101 does not necessarily free you from construction.
Santa Barbara appears to be conducting a citywide experiment to determine how many roads can be dug up simultaneously before the population cracks.
Roadworks. Utility works. Lane closures. Barricades. Detours. Heavy equipment.
Signs directing you away from one closed road and toward another sign directing you away from another closed road.
But There is a Plan
Beneath this apparent municipal nervous breakdown lies an actual objective.
When the cones finally disappear, Highway 101 through the corridor is supposed to have three lanes instead of two in each direction, with the new lane operating as a carpool lane during peak periods.
There will be auxiliary lanes between San Ysidro and Olive Mill, intended to separate cars entering and leaving the freeway.
New bridges are being constructed over Romero, San Ysidro and Oak creeks.
Olive Mill, Hot Springs, and San Ysidro, already have their roundabouts.
Farther north, another carpool lane extends between Hermosillo Road and Salinas Street.
The Cabrillo Boulevard interchange is being rebuilt, with new freeway bridges and redesigned ramps.
The ultimate objective is a continuous six-lane corridor through what has historically been the great Carpinteria-Santa Barbara bottleneck.
Which sounds splendid.
There is just one minor matter.
When Do We Get It ?
The work is being completed in stages.
Some Montecito sections are said to be approaching completion—though you’d never know it by what you see with your own eyes.
Santa Barbara is another story.
The Cabrillo portion began construction in April 2026.
Its currently projected completion: December 8, 2028.
The northbound and southbound Cabrillo off-ramps are expected to remain closed until summer 2028.
So we have a while.
This assumes, of course, that December 8, 2028 means December 8, 2028.
But, when the magnificent new Highway 101 is finally finished, we shall have six beautiful lanes.
Of course, with many more automobiles coming our way, it will by then be obsolete—and, yes, in need of more widening.
****
For those suffering the indignities of the continuing construction chaos in the Montecito area, Arthur von Wiesenberger has put together a little song for you, “Montecito Magic”. You can hum, whistle, tap your brake foot, or quietly sing along as you wait to get through the latest Montecito traffic jam.
Community Calendar:
Got a Santa Barbara event for our community calendar? Fenkner@sbcurrent.com
What’s the incentive to finish it? Nice view and endless change orders that are accepted. Welcome to a Ca government run project. Maybe the train to nowhere will come back…..this state is the most corrupt in the nation and the beat continues to go on and on…..
Just close the 101 to car traffic like we did State Street. That will solve it.