Santa Barbara drivers will have to lay off the gas pedal along five different streets in the downtown area, which all had their speed limits officially reduced by 5 mph on Tuesday. Alamar Avenue, De la Vina Street, La Colina Road, Miramonte Drive, and Yanonali Street will all be affected.
The changes stem from the most recent Engineering and Traffic Survey (ETS), which is revised every seven years to ensure each of the city’s 114 “speed zones” is up to date to current driving conditions. While the ETS doesn’t generally require changes in speed limit, the results of the spring 2023 survey showed that there were five speed zones that would benefit from a speed reduction.
Along Alamar Avenue, between State Street and Foothill Road, the radar-enforced speed limit will go from 35 mph to 30 mph; on De la Vina Street, between State and Mission streets, the speed limit will drop from 30 mph to 25 mph; La Colina Road, from Verano Drive to La Cumbre Road, will decrease from 30 mph to 25 mph; Miramonte Drive, between Carrillo Street and Via del Cielo, will drop from 30 mph to 25 mph; and Yanonali Street, from Garden Street to Calle Cesar Chavez, will be reduced from 30 mph to 25 mph.