By the edhat staff
Caltrans reports the new roundabout at Olive Mill Road in Montecito is nearing completion.
The intersection at Olive Mill Road, Coast Village Road, North Jameson Lane, the northbound Highway 101 off-ramp at Olive Mill Road, and the southbound Highway 101 on-ramp at Olive Mill Road is now a whole lot better.
For the first time ever, this complex intersection is now in a semi-roundabout configuration as Caltrans work sto complete the remaining portions.
The roundabout features improvements for motorists with a single lane traffic circle designed to 20 mph. Bicyclists will be able to either take the lane or dismount and use the crosswalks on the mountain side. Pedestrians will have a nicer walk with enhanced crosswalks, median islands between each direction of travel, new landscaping, and new signs and lighting.
The Olive Mill Roundabout is a $9 million project funded by regional funding programmed by the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG).
Below are renderings of the completed project:
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Much better than the awkward stop signs at all different angles.
Much better!!!! And done fairly quickly to boot. Maybe these workers can go help the 101 death trap north of Ventura when they are done here!!!
Amazing how something can be finished in a reasonable amount of time. They worked 6 days a week almost every day. I too think the 101 project is a joke. Whoever is in charge of that project has no regard for the taxpayer delays they have created. I doubt they will ever recoup the amount of time lost by commuters vs the time saved in the future. 7 years for 10.9 miles. What a joke.
The 101 project is so frustrating! Apparently there are dozens of little bridges all through Montecito and Carp that have to be widened, which takes a lot of time.
I also hope the road is being built to last longer than most US freeways
concrete dries only so fast
Awesome! More roundabouts please! They are much safer, quicker, and cheaper to maintain than lighted intersections. I recently took a road trip around rural France and only fully stopped for my destinations; stop lights and stop signs are almost non existent. Every intersection was a roundabout which made driving a breeze. The most dangerous high speed intersection T-bone accidents are eliminated.
It is crazy however that something that seems simple to build like this could be $9m. But that’s another story of US construction altogether.
Roundabouts work perfectly whether the power is out or not, unlike traffic signals, which makes them far more safe. A great improvement.
They need one at Fairview and Hollister and one at Fairview and 101 N exit.