The City of Santa Barbara is launching an exciting new pilot project on the 500 block of State Street, between Haley Street and Cota Street, as part of the broader State Street Master Plan.
Beginning in early September, the City will transition outdoor dining from the street to the sidewalk using a modular solution known as “pedlets.” This change makes it possible to enjoy dining right along the building frontage, while also ensuring easier pedestrian access and d supporting a more vibrant and flexible downtown experience.
What’s Changing?
Starting Monday, September 8th, the City will begin removing existing on-street dining setups—commonly referred to as “parklets”—on the 500 block. Dining will be moved to the sidewalk adjacent to building facades. To maintain pedestrian flow, the City will install pedlets: elevated, ADA-accessible walkways that extend the sidewalk into the street, allowing pedestrians to pass safely around the new dining zones.
What Is a Pedlet?
A pedlet is a modular, pre-fabricated platform that temporarily extends the sidewalk into the street. Designed to be level with the curb, pedlets provide a safe and accessible path for pedestrians while allowing businesses to use the sidewalk for outdoor dining. This approach has been successfully implemented in other cities to improve walkability and support local businesses.
Learn more about the concept from MODSTREET
Installation Timeline
- Monday, September 8 – City crews will remove remaining parklet materials and begin deep-cleaning the area. NOTE: The 500 block will be closed to deliveries and bicycle traffic while demolition is in progress.
- Tuesday, September 9 & Wednesday, September 10 – Pedlet installation takes place.
- Thursday, September 11 – Restaurants reopen with new sidewalk dining areas.
Why This Pilot?
The pedlet pilot is part of the City’s Short-Term Action Plan to experiment with different ways of enlivening State Street while the Master Plan is in progress. As a temporary installation, pedlets are a quick, lower-cost way to test new street designs before larger long-term changes. Pedlets also provide a protected walking zone, separating people from other activities on the street (e.g., bicycles). The 500 block was selected for this pilot due to its concentration of outdoor dining and large volume of pedestrians.
The Bigger Picture
The State Street Master Plan is a long-term vision to transform downtown Santa Barbara into a vibrant, inclusive, and sustainable destination. The plan emphasizes placemaking, economic vitality, and mobility. The pedlet pilot is a key step in testing the vision of a flexible street configuration that maximizes space for people to gather while maintaining access and minimizing disruption.
Questions?
For more information about the pedlet installation or the State Street Master Plan, please contact:
Sarah Clark, Downtown Team Manager
City of Santa Barbara, Public Works
(805) 564-5390
SClark@SantaBarbaraCA.gov
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Sounds cool to me. Extending the sidewalks while retaining the outdoor dining that so many enjoy. Keep bikes and pedestrians separated a bit.
Of course though, we can cue the crying and hysteria in 3….2…..1……
i’ll start. First, they are reopening it, get over it. By End of year one full lane in one direction will open. Outdoor dining is neat for the tourists or the guy coming from Goleta to pay high prices and eat outside, the majority of us that live down here don’t often eat at the tourist diners on lower state. There are better choices off the beaten path that are far better and not aimed at tourism. I personally feel the entire outdoor dining thing is a joke. I prefer to eat inside as do my family. Separating bikes and pedestrians. Well, the city painted very clear markings on the road for the bikes, and the pedestrians have over 75 feet of walkable safe space on either side of the double 3 foot lanes. Still, pedestrians want to walk right in the middle of it, forcing bikes into the ‘safe zone’ for pedestrians. My desk faces State and Carrillo. I watch it all day everyday. FOr the most part, i see most cyclists staying in the lanes. I see a lot of clueless people walking their kids, dogs and pushing strollers in the tiny double 3 foot lanes where the bikes are only supposed to be. I think that covers it. 🙂
The chorus of cryers that whine about anything on State Street will be deafening.
The people who want to reopen State Street to cars will likely die of natural causes in 10 years. Meanwhile the youth is trying to make State more accessible for their wheelchairs and they do is rant and rave.
Why just another pilot program? Hey, please simply go ahead with a touch of cajone$ and do it, City of SB. Anything else is a further waste of money.
I always come back to the surfing analogy – you’re there in the lineup, surf is good, and there’s tons of guys around you – when you see your wave to paddle into, you have to commit.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
We can tell you base your life philosophy on things like the worst parts of surfing and being macho.
Sounds like you drop in .
If you’re in the spot, you go. Obvi.
Okay, Barney.
Take the twinnie back to the wavepool kook.
your probably the person that waits until no cars are on the horizon before entering a roundabout.
Sail. Nah I charge roundabouts and curse at people doing stupid things at the round all the time. But let’s talk about your cowardice in standing up to tyranny. How does it feel to live in a shell of a body every morning and dream of an idealistic utopian version of State Street that never existed? The anger and thr mood swings getting to you old chap?
*you’re
If you’re just going to make up moronic stuff about people, at least spell it right.
Cretinous analogy.
as anon says my bad
I hope our pedlets don’t have fences. Who wants to walk a block to cross the street when there are no cars?
Another massive failure by the city leaders. State St should be returned to vehicles, parades and our cities shopping center instead of repeating failed ideas from elsewhere.
You seem to be the most experienced at repeating failed and false ideas.
Is there no discussion of the cost and who is paying for this? It looks nice but amounts to a gift of public space to private owners. Shouldn’t they at least pay for maintenance and some rent?
Tourist guy here has to weigh in…sorry.
Let me get this right, they are going to get rid of the plants and other fauna and flora, and put in a long ugly gate?
Please tell me that illustration is not the exact replica being considered.
What do I do if I want to cross the street midblock? Hop two fences.
Reopen the street already. Get the trolleys back up and running. Bring back the parades. Remove the vagrants and remove the e-bike madness, or what. Wait until there is two or three stores still operating on State Street?
Seems about right. Unfortunately, the City leaders and enough anti-business, liberal voters voting for them are driving State St. into the ground. They love those e-bikes!
What year of State Street would the MAGA mindsheep of past utopian Santa Barbara society have us return too? There is this sickness in MAGA where they make believe of a magical past that never existed.
Perhaps you could advocate for changes in your own town too. Lots of crime, drug use, trafficking and more happening in Vegas. Your voice is likely needed at their city council meetings instead of lurking on the internet for a town you don’t live in.
That would be too much work for a C-halfwit.
Vegas is a shthole…what can I say. Never was the jewel SB is.
So because of that, you are letting State Street deteriorate into what, another Vegas.
Fix the problem. Its simple. I have been going there going on 20 years now. The Street was bustling. Crowds of Tourist. The shops were not FOR LEASE all up and down State. There were inexpensive Trollies to carry you to the restaurant or shop of your choosing. Their were parades. There were tour buses cruising State Street. All gone.
There was homeless, but NOT drug deals and that type hanging around like after they closed the street, and made it a hang out with no police presence. You killed Paseo Nuevo, which was always busy! The Hotel Santa Barbara had to take down their awning because people were climbing on it! They never brought back their free breakfast in the lobby, because all these skells were coming in and eating it! The street is doing great before the underpass, where the street is open to vehicles . Just how far does it have to deteriorate before you realize you made a mistake, keeping it closed to vehicles after the Covid problem was over?
The COVID problem is still here, and about to get much worse, along with measles, whooping cough, rubella, and polio, to name a few.
“Tourist guy here”
You left out the “stupid racist homophobe” credits.
Don’t forget “pedo worshipper.”
Oops, sorry for the omission.
Wow, read the Independent article on this which does a nice job of describing actually what these “pedlets” are and what the City wants to do with them as another experimental program. wtf? So lame. Hey City! Ever heard the expression sh-t or get off the pot?
City councils, past and present have managed to destroy downtown State Street as a viable shopping and strolling location. These councils have helped turn State Street into a large tourist trap that most locals do not visit. For the past several years State St. has looked like a street in a third world country. It is going to take much more than pedlets to bring back a dying downtown.
KID – “For the past several years State St. has looked like a street in a third world country.”
You’ve never been to a “third world country.”
So tourists are coming here to witness what life is like in a third world country, with no interest in strolling or shopping?
Profoundly stupid and dishonest people have no concern with facts or consistency so they produce utter nonsense like this.
Nothing they’ve done has helped. Don’t expect this to. Circling the drain.
Totally. SB has gone way downhill for many years. The City Council all about catering to their pocketbooks, homeless, reckless e-bikers, tourists, and a forever debate about what to do with State St. LOL. And it’s not just downtown, upper State is a traffic nightmare and will be getting only worse as they build baby, build.
It must be sad to live in a world of fear and disillusionment. What year of State Street do MAGACANS wish to return to? The 80’s? The 70’s? Jim Crow era?
Na
Santa Barbara citizens voted for the council members democratically. The candidates YOU wanted did not win. Boo hoo. Not sure why a Goleta/Ventucky resident would care
I need to ask. How many days per month in the last 5 years, have the usual commentators here, spend on State Street. Its hard for me to believe your going down there much at all, and still supporting the status quo.
Try that in English. We live here. You don’t.