SANTA MARIA - If you're heading southbound on Highway 101 across the Santa Maria River Bridge, you'll be driving into new territory.
Caltrans is moving all southbound traffic into the newly created center median to allow for completion of widening work along the southbound lanes of the river bridge.
"We don't see this as a big disruption at all", says Caltrans spokesperson Jim Shivers, "we're basically taking two lanes of active freeway and placing it on a center median which means the motorists will be able to continue wherever they are going at full speed."
Caltrans says the southbound traffic switch will last about six months, after that northbound traffic will be re-directed as well.
"Later on in the project we will then do the same thing with the northbound traffic", Shivers says, "and that will allow us to do similar improvements on those northbound lanes."
Southbound cyclists are being detoured eastbound to Highway 166 to Suey Canyon Road and Bull Canyon and then to westbound Donovan Road back onto the highway.
When completed, the new river bridge will have three lanes in each direction and a cycling and pedestrian crossing along the western side of the bridge.
Caltrans says the $30 million River Bridge widening project is scheduled to be completed sometime in early 2014.
