SANTA BARBARA COUNTY - Get ready to pack a healthy supply of patience if you drive Highway 101 through Santa Barbara County.
Caltrans is shutting down the northbound lanes of the highway near the Gaviota Tunnel for the next three weeks.
Both northbound lanes of Highway 101 from Gaviota Beach south of the tunnel to the Highway One split north of the tunnel will be closed for as long as three weeks.
"What we have here is a situation of a 50 year old steel culvert that lays beneath the two northbound lanes", says Caltrans spokesperson Jim Shivers, "we need to cut open the roadway, take out that culvert and replace it with a new one and then finally repave those northbound lanes."
The two southbound lanes in the construction zone will be used to keep traffic flowing in both directions, albeit very slowly.
"We have a suggested speed limit of 35 miles per hour", Shivers says, "the CHP will be a big help, they will be on the scene."
Despite the obvious inconveniences this is going to cause for everyone driving Highway 101 through the Central Coast, Caltrans says this is one construction project that cannot wait.
"To delay this job could mean possible highway failure", Shivers says, "then we're looking at a situation of perhaps a longer closure to repair it."
Caltrans crews will be working around the clock Monday through Friday.
Commuters and others heading north or south on Highway 101 are encouraged to leave earlier to allow for the slowdown.
Caltrans is not encouraging motorists to use either Highway 154 or Highway 246 as a detour during the construction period.
It is encouraging everyone to use extra caution through the "cone zone" for the safety of the work crews on scene during construction.
