Drivers going south on Highway 101 are now traveling on the newest sections of the freeway through Montecito. Construction came to a completion as new traffic patterns were opened up over the weekend after months of work.

The improvements are part of the overall Carpinteria to Santa Barbara widening project to add an additional lane in each direction. It will create a peak hours High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane for drivers with one or more passengers.

Project Details

The work costs about $700 million and includes many changes beyond the additional lanes. Those include new bridges, ramps, creek crossing alterations, sound walls and signage.

New southbound lanes and ramps opened, the southbound off-ramp at Cabrillo Blvd closed, the traffic signal on Cabrillo Blvd at the southbound off-ramp at Hot Springs Rd/Cabrillo Blvd will be removed, and there is a temporary stop sign at the intersection of Olive Mill and Spring Rds.

Drivers can use the newly opened southbound off-ramp at Spring/Olive Mill Roads as the detour for the southbound off-ramp closure at Cabrillo Blvd.

Original reporting: KEYT (Ventura/Santa Barbara) — read the source article.