UPDATE: Highway 154 open from Santa Barbara to Paradise Road
UPDATE: 2/6/19
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY., Calif. – A portion of Highway 154 from Foothill Road in Santa Barbara to Paradise Road south of Lake Cachuma has re-opened.
CalTrans reported the section of Hwy 154 from the traffic circle in Santa Ynez to Paradise Road remains closed.
Drivers from Santa Ynez Valley headed to Santa Barbara must still use Highway 101 through Buellton.
The opening of a southern portion of Highway 154 gives Santa Barbara drivers access to Cold Springs Tavern on Stagecoach Road, and to the campsites along the Santa Ynez River.
ORIGINAL STORY:
A blocked drain along Highway 154 in the Santa Ynez Valley filled a large area near the roadway and it gushed over the traffic lanes Saturday causing a closure.
Efforts to open the drain will take time due to the amount of water, debris and possible impacts to the road.
Nine pumps have been set up with pipes to move the water from one side to the other and into Cachuma Lake.
The flow of brown water with floating debris was recorded by a landowner nearby.
Highway Patrol Officer Kevin McCool says they are pumping, “approximately 500 gallons per minute in order to alleviate the amount of water that’s there. Once they alleviate that then Caltrans crews will be allowed to go back in to try and remove the debris from the culvert to allow water to run.”
There’s no timeline for the project so far.
Once the water and debris are removed, the highway will be checked to see if it is safe for motorists. If it is broken or undermined a larger repair plan will be created.
Traffic that usually travels the route is cut off.
Drivers on the Santa Barbara side are turned off the roadway to Cathedral Oaks Road at the bottom of the pass and instructed to go around on Highway 101. On the other side, the cutoff is Highway 246.
That means Highway 101 will feel the impact of thousands of vehicles trips a day in addition to its heavy load.
The CHP is doing all it can to keep the flow safe and the drivers patient. Patrol units with their amber lights on are occasionally on the side of the road as an alert.
“Drivers should definitely be aware there is going to be more traffic on Highway 101 so please be careful when you are using Highway 101 to travel around instead of Highway 154,” said McCool.
As the project is sorted out, the closure area may be modified or tightened up.
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The San Marcos pass problem is caused in part by the heavy downpour of rain in the Whittier fire zone. You can see all the burnt and dead trees in the muddy water and signs the hillsides up as high as 4000 feet were in bad shape when they were pummeled by the weekend storms.
The Whittier Fire burned 18, 430 acres from July to October of 2017. 16 homes and 30 outbuildings were destroyed. Much of the land that was destroyed and is now getting washed off the hills, had not seen fire in 70 years.
