New Lanes Open on Highway 101 at the Rincon to Ease Congestion
A three-year $102-million project to widen Highway 101 from Ventura to Carpinteria has finished ahead of schedule.
It adds a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane in each direction for commuters to use during peak hours if they have two or more people in the car or have a vehicle approved for that lane.
It’s a tight section to fit in a highway expansion and the area has many other issues.
“There’s not only an ocean on one side there are mountains on the other side so you have a very narrow path to traverse. There’s a lot of people and businesses along the area so you have to take it into consideration,” said Mark Archuleta with CalTrans District 7.
Carpinteria City Councilman Wade Nomura said the city’s request for visual improvements and landscaping were part of the project. He was concerned about a freeway expansion that would have blocked mountain or ocean views. Nomura also said there would be environmental benefits by not having traffic backed up around the city limits unloading exhaust.
Ventura County Supervisor Steve Bennett said the project crossed county lines, and involved two different CalTrans districts, which required many agencies to work closely in order for the expansion plan to become a reality. He also said keeping a quality of life for the area, “brings with it a challenge” when you try to add in the conveniences of a modern world.
The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments has coordinated many of the moving parts and public meetings linked to the project. As traffic backed up on a regular basis, the problem was described as a “time wasting, economy sapping problem.”
Daily, about 15,000 vehicles travel from Ventura County to Santa Barbara and Goleta carrying workers to their jobs and adding cars to the freeway.
Shuttle and commuter buses will be using the HOV lanes without delay.
Supervisor Salud Carbajal also said more congestion relief is in ahead. Efforts are in the works to change the Amtrak train schedule to make it easier for Ventura County residents to use the train to and from work in Santa Barbara County.
Also, there are two more phases to the freeway widening project that has an ultimate goal of three lanes in each direction all the way up to Santa Barbara.
This morning a ribbon cutting signaled the end of the project and the opening of the northbound HOV lanes.
Last year, the southbound HOV lane opened along the Rincon and drivers said they immediately saw the relief from what had been bumper to bumper traffic on many weekdays and Sunday afternoons.
The overall project included a Class 1 bike path on the ocean side of the freeway, and a pedestrian undercrossing in La Conchita.
(More information and video will be posted here later. )
For more information go to: http://www.sbcag.org/
or Traffic Solutions at http://www.sbcag.org/traffic-solutions.html
or the Ventura County TransporationCommission at http://www.goventura.org/
or CalTrans
