New Carpool Lanes Open

On Friday, June 17, community leaders marked the opening of the new freeway carpool lanes and project completion with a community celebration featuring local transit riders alongside Congressman Salud Carbajal, State Senator Monique Limón, Supervisor Das Williams, Carpinteria Mayor Wade Nomura, and local neighbors. This is the first completed segment of the Highway 101: Carpinteria to Santa Barbara project. The Carpinteria segment added peak-period carpool lanes, new bridges over Santa Monica and Franklin creeks, updated five on- and off-ramps, and enhanced three local intersections with pedestrian and bicyclist connections. Landscaping will begin this month to install new plants between Bailard Avenue and Santa Monica Road.

“The improvements for transit riders and the local connections encourage a transportation system that functions for everyone,” said Senator Limón. “We are a community that works regionally between Ventura and Santa Barbara/Goleta, and our policies and planning reflect the needs of our working families on the Central Coast. I’m proud to see this project completed in Carpinteria and look forward to seeing the completion of this corridor to Santa Barbara that gives more transportation choices and congestion relief for residents, commuters, and visitors.”

“By opening new peak-period carpool lanes, we are encouraging people to rideshare and use transit during the most heavily congested periods. The added safety improvements are visible in the improved sight lines for drivers, easier access on and off the freeway with updated ramps, and improved water flow in our creeks with new bridges,” said Caltrans District 5 Director Tim Gubbins.

“We are excited to have these improvements open for residents, visitors, and local businesses,” said City of Carpinteria City Manager Dave Durflinger. “Our community has been resilient over the last few years and the improvements to the creek bridges are important to help reduce the risk of flooding for our neighborhoods. We have appreciated the commitment from the entire team to work collaboratively to complete the work while taking our community into account and being a good neighbor.”

This project is a partnership between Caltrans, the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, and the City of Carpinteria with state funding approved by the California Transportation Commission.

Highway 101: Carpinteria added a peak-period carpool lane to the freeway in each direction within the City of Carpinteria between Bailard Avenue and the southbound Highway 101 on-ramp at Santa Claus Lane. The new lanes tie into recently added third lanes to the south and will connect to upcoming projects to the north.

New bridges were constructed over Franklin and Santa Monica creeks. There are new freeway on- and off-ramps at Santa Monica Road, Carpinteria Avenue, and Reynolds Avenue. Six new sound walls were built to reduce freeway noise for neighbors. On local streets, intersections were improved at Santa Monica Road and Via Real, Reynolds and Carpinteria avenues, and Bailard Avenue and the freeway ramps.

For more information about this project as well as upcoming projects, including the Montecito portion, visit sbroads.com.