Santa Barbara County

[Shadow Assassin 336]

Looking good.

I might follow this CJ. I liked how you did San Diego, so, yeah, I'll keep an eye on this.

[davidhogan 1]

Downtown Spreads West

This is the western area of Santa Barbara, which sprouted up almost overnight along US-101.  The original red-roofed train station, as well as the newer West SB Depot, are both shown above.  The easy access to the rail line has been credited with a large part of why this neighborhood has so many high-wealth residents so quickly.

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

West Santa Barbara

West Santa Barbara, not to be confused with the western part of Santa Barbara shown above, will probably be best remembered by those who pass through the interchange shown above.  This was built when the freeway segment came in, as a way to connect the old 101 to both Freeway 101 and BR-101, as well as to Western Ave/BR-101.

Here we have the construction of State Blvd, to connect the new coastal areas to the freeway more directly.  You can see the construction crews hard at work in this picture.

After the road was put in and upgraded some residents weren't too happy, but it was in the city's master plan which they should have checked before building.

After a bit of zoning and secondary road construction, the area looks a bit more completed.  Depending on traffic flow, the West Santa Barbara Interchange my need to be re-worked in the future, but residents are quite pleased with the efficiency of the corridor now.

The always-popular arial shot of the whole town.  You can also see the new avenue project on the west side of town, which hasn't seen the growth of State Blvd yet.  There's also been talks of bringing a light rail corridor through the west side of town, near the coast.  This is still years away from reality though.

And, as a bonus this is a picture I found in the city hall archives of West SB when it was just 6 months old.  My how she's grown.

Dave

[Cjah 15]

Wow you really know how to use the NAM.That avenue and highway really look awsome and of course the growth is exceelent.

This update has been the best yet.

My eyes are glued to this.

Keep up the great work!

[davidhogan 1]

[davidhogan 1]

Area Rail, Roads, Airports Expanding to Support Planned Growth

 

California State Route 154 has been constructed from CA-101 in Downtown Santa Barbara up to the new Santa Barbara Airport.  This one-lane facility owns plenty of right of way that is reserved for a second runway, when needed.

 

The new North Loop or University Loop of the Santa Barbara Light Rail Service.  Currently this service creates a secondary loop to the north around SBSU, under CA-154, through some newer commercial and industrial districts, and reconnects to the mainline on the east side of town.

 

Here's the upper part of the South Loop, currently weaving through West SB, into the downtown area, and back up to the mainline on the west side of downtown.  This is planned to help usher in more higher-density buildings, inconjunction with the new air facilities, and the anticipated sprawl along CA-154.

 

The southern part of the South Loop, with the West SB College Station cut off at the bottom of the picture.  Although this project displaced a number of homes, the vast majority of residents preferred this alternative to an additional freeway through the city, or attempting to build a subway in this rocky, oceanfront soil.

 

Dave

[Simbourgeois 139]

Looks nice  May I ask you what's that black and yellow thing on the rail road in the last picture. Looks like single freight locomotive, but could you post a pic where it could be seen a bit closer. Thanks!

 

Simbourgeois

Mayor of Belleville

[Mexicanboy13r 12]

I think that is on the Stex... and dave another great update sure does look great how you layout your cities!

[Djohaal 121]

This region's suburbs are quite pleasant, you managed to give it the small town feel, lots of suburbs, green areas, avenues with large malls, it looks like a typical suburban area, except from the rail. An interesting idea would be to replace the ones in the more crowded areas by EL rail or monorail, so when the urban sprawl grows in the Z axis, instead of X and Y, the infrastructure already will have been laid

[davidhogan 1]

Simbourgeois - I'm really not sure what that is, but it might be a freight engine though? I'll try to get a better shot if I get the chance.

J.O. - The two current light rail loops are meant to serve areas that were going to have avenues carved through in preparation for increasing the density, but the light rail projects were decided on instead. Right now there's a total of about 25 medium density buildings regionwide - and 20 of those are rowhouses.

Hopefully there will be enough transit options available now to avoid gridlock - for a little while - when the city starts to grow upward instead of outward.

Dave

[Cjah 15]

Wow you have so many transit options more then I could shake a stick at.

[Mdz1001 0]

Wait. BR 101?!

 

I thought that was my schtick from my CJ Binsur. I guess that means old 101. Anyway, this is a great CJ davidhogan. What California city is without lots of traffic?

[davidhogan 1]

Santa Barbara Approaches 50 Years Old

The City of Santa Barbara is preparing for it's 50th birthday, so I figured I'd take you back to a  familiar and show you how things have changed.  Page 1 has a shot of this same area, but before Freeway 101 West and CA-154 existed.  Santa Barbara Blvd now is co-signed as CA-154 all the way down to Coast Blvd, and we had our first mid-rise commercial and residential buildings recently completed - they're both in this shot!

 

As for BR-101, it's an abbreviated way of saying Business Route 101.  Business Routes are quite common in California, and they usually are are parallel arterial road that connects to the same freeway twice, or a combination of roads that bypasses the freeway with businesses on it.  In many cases, such as large parts of my Santa Barbara, this is the former routing as well.

 

This is the south end of CA-154 at Coast Blvd.  This area has rather weak soil, so nothing larger than townhouses will ever appear in this section of the city.  For now, it's mostly single family houses, and they like it that way.

 

The northeast corner of Santa Barbara isn't the most desireable area.  The airport tram, the waste facilities, and the airport directly north means that the barking dog next door isn't big on resident's concerns.  The modern library just doesn't make up for the moderate air pollution.

 

Dave

[Cjah 15]

This is looking great!

I love all the growth and of corse all of the great California highways!

Looks like theres alot of traffic...Hmmm well California has a ton of cars!

Great update,can't wait for the next!

[bobinator 0]

I really like all the trafic on the interchange! I like how this has grown out.

[Liger14 0]

Looks cool so far.Keep it up!

[ExiL3 10]

Getting better!!

[davidhogan 1]

Current Freeway Construction Nearing Completion

Westview Blvd/BR-101 originally terminated at US-101 in a traffic light configuration.  As the areas north of the railroad started growing out, there was a significant lack of access across the tracks.  Most of the crossings in the area were also at-grade, which residents also didn't like.  North Westview Blvd was built to handle these concerns, but because of federal and county red tape, we got stuck with the above configuration for some time.

As Freeway 101 was being completed through this area, we thought it would be easy enough to get CalTrans to work with us to build the ramps then.  How wrong we were.  Because of budget restrictions, lazy contractors, and the lack of the avenue over rail crossing that West SB had been promising all along, this is what we were stuck with for about 5 years.  Wegmans was not happy.

And this is the current configuration.  Freeway 101 is being used quite a bit, and residents on the north side of the rail tracks now have a safe and easy path into town over the rail tracks.  The price we've had to pay is that as soon as a new segment of Freeway 101 is completed, housing projects move in.  (As shown in the top of the shot.)

Now we'll move up to North Santa Barbara along CA-154.  Hollister Ave had been completed on the south side of the airport for several years with no access to CA-154.  Businesses south of the airport wanted a freeway-to-freeway grade T-ramp, whereas city plans called for Hollister to continue east past CA-154, thus calling for a more simple offramp configuration.

Unfortunately we waited so long to build the ramps that due to local opposition from the residents who had recently moved in, this is the best we were able to execute.  If only those local businesses would have left us alone to build it the right way in the first place...

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

Santa Barbara Celebrates Breaking 100,000 Pop

Santa Barbara County is proud to announce that it now has over 100,000 residents.  The rapid growth following construction of the airport was expected, but now county planners are trying to decide where to put all the expected growth.

This is a working copy of the region's master plan.  Current plans call for extending CA-154 north, and renaming the current northern end to match whatever the northern bypass is named.  All these roads depend on funding and the availability of needed lands, but county planners are hopeful all these roads can be built.

Dave

[Casper3141 60]

Looks awesome Dave, I love Your Santa Barbara CJ it looks so great

[bobinator 0]

Wow! 100,000 people already! Can't wait for the next update!

[davidhogan 1]

Santa Barbara Explodes with Growth

http://img163.exs.cx/img163/6581/20050125a1qe.jpg align=baseline>

Santa Barbara has been growing much faster lately than Carpenteria and the other suburbs. Part of this is due to intended concentration of housing, and many residents feel Santa Barbara is trying to become a small Los Angeles.

http://img163.exs.cx/img163/4201/20050125b9fc.jpg align=baseline>

With this new growth has come several new freeway pieces, extensions, and numbers. CA-601 is planned to be the Northern Bypass of US-101, which runs through what is become a bustling commercial area. CA-154 is now planned to use a pre-constructed interchange that was intended to be the northern extension of State Blvd. If California comes through with the funding, it will actually extend to the North edge of the county.

http://img163.exs.cx/img163/4246/20050125c2kf.jpg align=baseline>

Here's a shot from the construction of the eastern edge of CA-601, which now connects to US-101 east of Santa Barbara.

http://img142.exs.cx/img142/7327/20050125d5st.jpg align=baseline>

CA-144 has been completed to freeway status all the way from US-101 to CA-601. It is not planned to continue north past CA-601.

http://img142.exs.cx/img142/7880/20050125e9bk.jpg align=baseline>

The first Santa Barbara County WalMart is quite popular, as is the Wegmans nearby.

There's several more updates coming, but this new editor is such a pain I don't know when I'll feel like posting them.

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

CA-601 East End Construction Photos

http://img79.exs.cx/img79/6916/20050125f1wv.jpg align=baseline>

The ramp to BR-101 from US-101, as well as the BR-101 bridge over the rail tracks had already been removed when this shot was taken. The original T-ramp didn't allow for a northbound connection from anywhere within the project area.

http://img155.exs.cx/img155/9643/20050125g2bt.jpg align=baseline>

This shot was taken to show the new ramps, as well as the temporary configuration of the rail tracks that bypassed the construction site. The temporary end of CA-601 was built as such so that the ramps could be built to completion at once and save some money.

http://img155.exs.cx/img155/7353/20050125h2wl.jpg align=baseline>

We are still looking at options for building CA-601 East (south) past US-101, as now it's signed South View Blvd, and built as an expressway. (Freeway speeds, center divider, and no driveways, but no ramps yet.) Some factions want the roadway changed to an avenue with retail zoning on the sides, others want full ramps built at Business 101 and points south.

http://img155.exs.cx/img155/7150/20050125i7mh.jpg align=baseline>

The official city map, along with the proposed northern extension of CA-154 drawn in. The 601 Gap, and Ocean Hills (the town it passes through) are in place, but this map is a little old. CA-154 construction has been delayed as environmental permits for housing which will fund it's construction are issued.

Dave

[Cjah 15]

This C.J. is awsome!!

I love all the growth and development.

The highways are perfect and everything looks very well done...

I hope some day you give Orange County a try.....

The Tustin,Santa Ana,Irvine and Anaheim area of Orange County.

You just make the best California cities!

Keep up the excellent work!!!

[jacqulina 162]

this cj is coming on really good

[bobinator 0]

Wow! Really like the region shot of this. You should get thejersydevil's transportation mod map. It's great!

[bobinator 0]

Edit: Crap, sorry about the double post.

[davidhogan 1]

Santa Barbara's Freeways Take Shape



Here was the alignment of US-101 in the 101/601 Western Project Area. This included all of CA-601 west of CA-154, and upgrades to all of 101 to the 101/601 western junction to freeway grading.



And the same stretch of US-101 late at night. The residents of this area are glad they don't need to wait 3 or 4 minutes to cross 101 anymore, even if it does interrupt a few people's backyard views.



Here's the eastern end of the 601's project area, after completion. The interchange was completed first, then the freeway was completed to the east (the right in this picture) as an elevated highway. The Shared Segment (601/154) is scheduled to be upgraded at some point to an elevated highway also.



Here's CA-601 near it's western junction, as it passes through the start of the foothills. Some residents have nicknamed the 601 the Foothill Freeway, and it's a name that may stick. Santa Barbara County has already looked at buying a few signs with that name on it.



And a little bit back towards the east, a small lower/middle class neighborhood that was allowed to be built - provided the developer contributed a nice amount of cash to speed up completion of CA-601.

Later tonight - the 101/601 junction, the region map, and a little bit more. Thanks for all the comments, it's nice to know people are watching this.

Dave

[davidhogan 1]

New Hospital, New Freeways, Happy Citizens

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/2117/20050127f2ah.jpg align=baseline>

Here along Freeway 101 there are a lot of lower-density homes on land owned by UCSB (shown at the lower edge of the picture.) Their medical school in recent years has grown in size, and their enrollment has grown as well. With a mix of state, local, and even a few federal dollars, we've been able to build a masterpiece of a Metro Medical Center.

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/2755/20050127g5mo.jpg align=baseline>

Santa Barbara Metro Medical Center, in conjunction with UCSB, is completed, as shown in this current shot. New (unshown) apartments on the other side of the campus replaced the student housing that was torn down, as well as added space for several thousand more students.

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/6532/20050127h0fx.jpg align=baseline>

Old US-101, on the western edge of the current Metro Limits. (To avoid too much sprawl certain limitations on building have been put in place requiring special construction to even build one house.)

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/2373/20050127i6lk.jpg align=baseline>

As more of the road was upgraded to freeway status, the 601 freeway was being constructed east from the airport to this point as well. Some residents wanted to preserve the historic bridge shown above, but...

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/4976/20050127j4vf.jpg align=baseline>

They lost. And quite quickly, the new freeway was built elevated so there's no elevation change for trucks passing through. CA-601 was just out of sight for this shot.

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/7972/20050127k0go.jpg align=baseline>

Here's the final product, along with the new development that has been opened up as a result. More and more traffic now passes through this area, which has attracted businesses and residents who want to live close to everywhere.

http://img191.exs.cx/img191/7964/20050127l3gh.jpg align=baseline>

Here's the Santa Barbara Metro Roadway Map. Preliminary studies are in place for CA-217, which will be the last north/south freeway, west of CA-154. Land acquisition for the northern routing is already complete, leaving a nice open path that highlights the northern end of the intended route. Hollister Ave has also been completed West, and will eventually pass west all the way to the 101/601 interchange.

Questions? The Santa Barbara Department of Tourism is here to help. Ask in this thread, and someone will get back to you.

Dave

[Cjah 15]

Excellent transit map!It looks very realistic compared to the real map....

I also hate to ask but I've seen that hospital in about a million C.J.'s and they never say where they got it.Can you please tell me what its called and if its on the STEX....Thanks in advance.

With that said I think I will be going....

Great C.J. keep it up!