101 Mud Mania

(Scroll through the above photos)

By John Wiley

Mud Mania ran amok on 101 in our Tuesday evening pics. Nearly all of the freeway from Ventura to Goleta looks from the air like it could handle one lane each way. But from what we experienced driving from SBA into town and back to 101@154, maybe they’re afraid to open it until all lanes are ready for 80mph road wars. Anyway, here’s a pic of an apparent mud spill in the NB Patterson offramp that had the freeway closed down to 1 lane. Massive backup all the way to Mission by 5pm or so. Also a pic of the remarkable progress at Olive Mill, with K-rails already in place on the bridge. Looks like only a few hundred feet of mud still, though getting down to the concrete lanes still leaves the wide shoulders and drainage to deal with.