CityofSantaBarbara
By the City of Santa Barbara
The City is pleased to announce the commencement of the Vision Zero State Street Undercrossing Project that will be a major facelift to the State Street undercrossing of Highway 101, which will incorporate many safety upgrades in keeping with the City’s commitment to the Vision Zero strategy.
The undercrossing serves as the City’s Downtown gateway from the Waterfront. Through a collaborative effort, spanning many years, an aesthetically pleasing design was developed, which is reflective of the Santa Barbara community, that will include improved lighting. The project will begin in early October and will be completed in 2025.
The Project connects the City’s two most active transportation-oriented neighborhoods: Downtown and the Waterfront. The Project improves safety and appropriately rebalances space for vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists through the undercrossing between Yanonali and Gutierrez Streets. Sidewalks will also be widened on each side of the street from eight feet to 15 feet.
On-street bike lanes will be increased from five to seven feet in width and will have a two- to three-foot protected buffer. The new roadway configuration includes one vehicle lane in each direction, a painted median for emergency access, and reconfigured turn lanes at both Yanonali and Gutierrez Streets.
Additional enhancements include new pedestrian safety lighting and protective railings, reconstructed bridge columns to improve safety and aesthetics, new plantings in the upper planters, irrigation repairs, street tree removal and replacement, and modifications to the intersections at State and Gutierrez Streets and State and Yanonali Streets to reduce crossing distances for pedestrians.
Construction will begin on the east side of the undercrossing starting from the middle of the undercrossing working towards the Yanonali and Gutierrez intersections. Access for vehicles and cyclists will be maintained in both directions during construction and the sidewalk on the west side of the undercrossing will remain open for pedestrian access. Construction will occur between 7 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday.
We appreciate your continued support and patience. For more information about the Project, email StateStUndercrossing@SantaBarbaraCA.gov or visit the Project website at www.santabarbaraca.gov/StateStUndercrossing
Forgot to mention the multi million $ “facelift” benefitting people who get architectural privileges not afforded to the rest of us.
Basically theft to pay those people that much just to do up aesthetics.
Years in the future this will be acknowledged as a good investment. Can just imagine when the courthouse was built back then, there would have been complaints how it was unnecessarily expensive. This project will have a good imprint for Santa Barbara.
The rendering indicates a more “flattened” sidewalk on both sides, creating less of a grade to climb. Is this the case?
The scale of the lamp post on the top right seems a bit exaggerated.
Since there will be two blank concrete walls on either side, how about including a photographic history to provide visitors with a vision and education into Santa Barbara’s past AND provide another reason to walk from one side to the other!