Moving Through Goleta Just Got A Little Easier
The long-anticipated roundabouts on Hollister Avenue and HWY 217 are now open! The roundabouts, part of Project Connect construction, provide more continuous and improved movement through the busy Hollister Avenue and HWY 217 corridor.
While roundabouts significantly improve traffic safety and vehicular flow, it can take time for drivers to adjust. Please proceed through the area with patience and allow extra time for travel.
Share the road! Vehicles, bicycles, and pedestrians share the road on roundabouts.
Drivers are now able to navigate the new roundabout configuration with temporary striping and traffic control in place. Final roundabout features, including landscaping and aesthetic enhancements, are scheduled to be installed later this year as construction progresses.
The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) developed a short video to help drivers navigate roundabouts. Click here to watch the video. Closed captions are available in numerous languages.
Here are some key tips from the video:
- Slow Down:
- Slow down. Going slower gives you more time to make decisions.
- Look Around:
- For multi-lane roundabouts, choose the lane for where you want to go. Use the left lane to go left, right lane to go right, and either lane to go straight.
- Take note of the signs and markings to help you select your lane.
- Keep looking around and check the crosswalks to see if anyone is waiting to cross or already crossing. Be ready to stop to allow them to cross.
- Look around for traffic already in the roundabout and be ready to yield.
- Be Ready to Yield:
- You must yield to traffic in ALL lanes of a roundabout.
- Enter when there’s a comfortable gap.
- Go slow and stay in your lane. Don’t turn left from the right lane and don’t turn right from the left lane.
- Yield to large vehicles and give them space.
- Follow the pavement markings to stay in the correct lane.
- Look around for anyone in the crosswalk and be ready to yield to them as you exit the roundabout.
Additional work will continue on Project Connect with overall completion anticipated in Spring 2027.
Project Connect, which began two years ago in March of 2024, is the largest capital improvement project in the City’s history, and when completed will provide improved connectivity throughout Goleta.
Questions? Looking for more details? Visit our webpage at www.CityofGoleta.org/ProjectConnect, email connect@CityofGoleta.gov, or call 805-690-5116.
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Zero thought was given to accommodating bicyclists or pedestrians. These atrocities are the meatgrinders that I have warned about for decades.
Yesterday I tried to walk from the medical clinic at Hollister and Patterson to Old Town Goleta. A sign said the sidewalk was closed and said to cross to the other side. I risked my life to do that. Got a hundred feet or so and guess what? A sign said the sidewalk was closed – cross to the other side. There was no complete sidewalk on either side.
Today I tried to bicycle from Goleta Cottage Hospital to Old Town. There is no safe place for bicyclists. A Tesla blared its horn as a huge piggy pickup truck crossed in front of it. If I had been seconds earlier one or both of them would have hit me. I was afraid it would be horrible, but I was not prepared for it to be this horrible.
KEYT did a story on how great this is for moving cars. Zero attention given to humans not inside steel cages. Just like this article.
drove through about 11:30. We will see how it goes when completed.
Congratulations on navigating one of the simplest traffic features in existence!
Awesome – the roundabouts are great everywhere they’ve been put in. Just watch out for the few who don’t know how they work (ie, yield signs) and just go.
The largest capital improvement project in the City’s history appear to be a handful of barrels, cones, and a pavement marking.