Date: Thursday, August 13, 2026
District: 05 - Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, Monterey, San Benito, and Santa Cruz Counties
Contact: Ashton Harris
Phone: (805) 549-3237
US 101 CASTILLO STREET OFF-RAMP SEES VISUAL
IMPROVEMENTS FOLLOWING EMERGENCY REPAIR WORK
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY —Over the past two months travelers on US 101 in Santa Barbara encountered intermittent closures of the Castillo Street off-ramp as crews performed emergency repair work.
Crews took advantage of these closures to perform emergency drainage repair work at the Castillo St. Undercrossing, where water was a normal sight for those passing through the undercrossing. This is because the ground water level at the Castillo Undercrossing is above the street elevation, causing the road to be wet year-round.
The fix included the Installation of a ground water drainage system. Crews trenched along the sidewalk connecting to four pipe locations. They cleaned those pipes out and added drainage inlets at each location. Lastly, they cored 10-inch holes at each drainage inlet to allow ground water into the drainage system, rather than sitting on the road.
Figure 1 Castillo St. Undercrossing before drainage work
Figure 2 Castillo St. Undercrossing after drainage improvements
Road information and updates can also be found on Caltrans Central Coast District 5 Social Media Platforms: X at @CaltransD5, Facebook at: Caltrans Central Coast (District 5) and Instagram at: Caltrans_D5.
Our crews deserve to get home safely too.
Drive slowly and carefully in work zones.
CHP Traffic Incident Information Page: https://cad.chp.ca.gov/
Traveler Information at: https://quickmap.dot.ca.gov/
