Is the Chick-Fil-A Traffic Really Solved?

Chick-fil-a traffic in December 2023 on State Street in Santa Barbara (courtesy)

A neighbor posted these photos a few weeks ago of the traffic outside the Chick-fil-A on Upper State Street in Santa Barbara.

I understand the fast food place closed for several weeks to make adjustments to get rid of all the traffic but from what I’ve seen and by these photos it doesn’t seem like it’s solved the problem, only made it slightly less worse.

What have other readers noticed?

Chick-fil-a traffic down to Hitchcock (courtesy)

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Written by Anonymous

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22 Comments

    • I’m interested to see how the traffic is at the Turnpike location, given In n Out (Habit is better) and Starbucks both have ridiculous lines.

      The chicken is, as my kid would say, “mid.” Definitely not worth the line (nor is In n Out). Tastes the same as every other fast food chicken sandwich. Gotta love the OG Burger King chicken!

    • That’s unfortunate for those of us who must use the intersection of Turnpike and Calle Real, the location to which they are moving… right next door to the drive-through Starbucks whose traffic already blocks the right lane immediately at the corner, and sometimes causes backup of vehicles onto Turnpike, right off the NB 101 offramp. It’s a sh*tshow.

  1. IT’s STILL a mess! This biz needs to go someplace other than State Street. The food is mediocre at best — what IS the attraction? Alternative to KFC? Try Jill’s Place for the buttermilk fried chicken… now that’s delicious!

  2. I think this needs to go back to City Council again for consideration as a “public nuisance” that should be shut down. It’s all been said before…this is a dangerous situation, particularly for bicycles, and is a disaster waiting to happen. It is also absolutely obnoxious and a disrespectful PITA for the community.

    The biggest question for me: Why did Chick-fil-A get rid of the curbside monitor that was clearing traffic when City Council was considering public nuisance status? The fact that they don’t have one now is a show of bad faith in my opinion. They only provide a fix to the problem when their neck is on the line.

    SBPD, please get out there and start ticketing.

  3. You can’t tell anything from still photographs. Are the cars moving, just slowly? Or even at a normal speed? I did see, about 6 days ago, the CFA traffic monitor out there. He was actually telling driver to move on, go around the block & try again.

  4. The taste of success!

    CFA is doing a great service to the community, the people like it, good jobs for kids, extra tax revenue! Simply an American Success story!

    People complaining they have to endure 20 seconds of traffic or OMG have to change lanes….this actually was mocked in a National news story. Lighten up SB peeps.

    • All restaurants should have the drive through option. The detriment to traffic and air pollution from idling cars is vastly outweighed by the convenience of never having to stand up on your own two feet as you order and consume your feed.

  5. This ongoing traffic problem is the fault of our city council. They allow this business to use the State Street traffic lane as a parking lot. What would happen to you if you parked in the traffic lane on State or any other street in order to pick something up at a store or restaurant?

  6. I have taken very similar pictures in the past few months. The line is not as long or as constant as it used to be. At it’s worse, today, is as pictured. It the past it blocked access to Rusty’s, the carwash, and even Jack-In-The…

    The opininons on the quality or taste of the food are irrelevant to the traffic question, really. As much as the fact that they close on Sunday because they follow religious customs is totally irrelevant.

    If I’m going to ‘go-there’, lets bring up that their marketing image has gone from Christian and possibly not inclusionary. To some in politics are claiming Chick-Fil-A may have gone from “anti-gay” to, now, some conservatives claim CFA is a “WOKE” organization. There, I went off the rails, for the sake of all the other irrelevant and “weighted comments” that often occur. LoL

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