Signal issues again stall traffic by the Santa Barbara waterfront

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - Signal lights that went off during the mid-day in Santa Barbara jammed up waterfront traffic. This was not the first time this month the area has had difficult issues.

The lights were locked on red at about 1 p.m. and drivers in all directions at State Street and Yanonali were hesitant to move. Some would have been going over the railroad tracks.

Eventually they treated it like a four-way stop situation but that was after more than 20 cars were lined up coming from downtown and some horn honking took place.

Some drivers blew through the red lights and passed other vehicles. Pedestrians trying to cross were taking careful steps.

In early December there was a bigger issue with the railroad crossing signs at the same spot. The arms were down and the bells were ringing for hours. During that incident drivers again ran through red lights, drove the wrong way on the street and others turned to detour.

Today's light issue was resolved after about an hour when the lights went to flashing reds and then back to normal.

It's not known if the two light failures were related in any way.