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Federal funding seems more likely for widening Highway 101 in SB

By Sam Womack/Staff Writer

This year, Vandenberg Air Force Base plans to get six satellite deliveries, more than 100 tanker deliveries of propellant and roughly five trucks a day bringing supplies and petroleum, mostly by way of Highway 101.

“We estimate our general day-to-day operations result in several thousand deliveries a year that involve use of Highway 101,” said 30th Space Wing Commander Col. David Buck in a letter to 4th District county Supervisor Joni Gray.

The letter comes as good news to Gray and other county officials as it opens another avenue of federal funding to cover the $285 million still needed to pay for the South Coast Highway 101 widening project.

“This is a huge benefit because we’re looking for federal funding to help us get the 101 widened,” Gray said.

“Prior to this letter, we were told there was no possibility of federal funding ... but the needs assessment from the military shows that this is simply another need for the federal government — they have to keep it open and flowing,” she added.

Vandenberg Air Force Base was enlisted in the effort last month after the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments (SBCAG) found out that the sputtering economy would force other roads projects to the back burner in order to keep the spotlight on adding lanes to Highway 101.

Highway 101 between Santa Barbara and the Ventura County line has been a decades-old bottleneck on what is both a local and statewide thoroughfare. Efforts to expand the freeway — to three lanes in each direction from two — have been stymied by both political and financial factors.

The letter will be accompanying delegates from SBCAG to Washington, D.C. this week to convince local federal representatives of the project’s national security importance.

The VAFB supports nearly 3,500 military members, more than 4,000 military dependents and approximately 10,000 local military retirees.

It is “the nation’s premier polar orbit launch site,” and supports the Department of Defense, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and commercial programs, according to Buck’s letter.

In addition to launches, the base has many other “national defense missions, including on-alert missile defense interceptors and the Joint Space Operations Center,” the letter stated.

Gray said 24th District Rep. Elton Gallegly, R-Simi Valley, would also be looking at whether the Point Mugu portion of Naval Base Ventura County also relies on Highway 101 for day-to-day and defense operations.

The fourth phase of the 101 widening project — involving the 10-mile gap from Hot Springs/Cabrillo to Carpinteria — is estimated to cost $425 million.

While $140 million of Measure A funds have been dedicated to the endeavor, that still leaves two-thirds of the funding up in the air, according to SBCAG staff.

With that and the floundering economy in mind, the SBCAG board members approved a cash-flow scenario that tentatively allocated SBCAG-controlled funding to the Highway 101 widening project, as opposed to applying it to local road maintenance.