New interchange coming to busy Highway 101/Broadway intersection in Santa Maria
Dave Alley
SANTA MARIA, Calif. (KEYT) – A major infrastructure project is in the works to build a new interchange at the busy intersection of Highway 101 and Broadway (Highway 135) in Santa Maria.
The planned project would replace the current two-lane bridge and also create an entirely new design for the on and off ramps to the freeway.
“What the city is looking at is building a new interchange over Highway 101, at Broadway and Highway 135,” said Brett Fulgoni, Santa Maria Public Works Director. “It’ll connect the two sides of the city, and we’ll connect all the way over to Seaward Drive on the on the eastside of Santa Maria, along the levee.”
The main goals for the project will be to enhance traffic flow throughout the area, as well as improve safety and accessibility.
“There’s tens of thousands of cars that use this intersection,” said Fulgoni. “As the city grows, that will continue to grow, and so this is long term planning that’s coming to actual construction. The other part of this project is we do plan to do a, a transit park and ride there. And so as, as transit grows, this will be become a transit hub as well forthe region.”
While the project is still many years away from start of construction, the City of Santa Maria, along with Caltrans, and Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) are currently working on the advancement of the environmental review, as well as preliminary engineering.
Along with the stakeholders, the public will also be allowed to participate in the design process over the next several months.
Tonight, on Wednesday, Nov. 12, the City of Santa Maria will hold a public workshop where the people will have the opportunity to view project exhibits and conceptual layouts, ask questions and share feedback directly with representatives from the Santa Maria Public Works Department, Caltrans, and members of the design team.
“There’s going to be there will be many, many public meetings on this project,” said Fulgoni. “Today’s the first one. We want to make sure that what we build, Santa Maria actually wants and that it’s going to solve a problem that we need to solve. When engineers design a project, we all have blind spots, and we rely on the public to make sure that we’re meeting their needs. That’s the really important part of the public engagement piece is making sure that we’re seeing things from all angles. There could be things that we haven’t considered and that’s exactly what we’re looking for today.”
The cost for the project is currently estimated to be $70 million, with the funding to come from several different sources, including from Measure A, the transportation-focused sales tax increase Santa Barbara County voters passed in 2008.
“We have about $10 to $20 million between the Measure A and the regional gas tax funding,” said Sarkes Khachek, SBCAG Programming Director. “The other funding that we’re going to need, the $40 to $50 million, we’re going to be pursuing outside funding. There are federal and state competitive programs that we will look to start applying for in the next year or so as we get through project development and the project gets ready for construction. We want to be at a point where we’re going to leverage that funding with measure and regional funding to get the outside grant to fully fund the project.”
With the project just now beginning to ramp up, there are many more hurdles to clear before the public will see any kind of construction taking place at the intersection.
“We’re at the early stage,” said Khachek. “We’re in 2025 with the environmental document. We look forward to designing the project in a couple of years and then the project will be construction ready in 2029. Once construction starts, we’re looking at a two to three year construction period from there, so we’re hoping to have it all done by 2032 or 2033.”