The City of Goleta wants to shift $8.4 million of Measure A funding from a potential pedestrian, vehicle, and bicycle bridge over Highway 101 to Project Connect, which would create roundabouts in Old Town Goleta.
Longtime resident Richard Foster is not happy about it.
"We need this out here for safety. The intersection at Glenn Annie and Storke Road is the worst in all of Goleta because of traffic volume," Foster said.
The Highway 101 bridge project has been in the works since approximately 2010. Foster thinks delays and ballooning costs are due to poor project estimates by the city.
"We think the money should stay here. The taxpayers were promised it would be used for this. At the SBCAG meeting in February, the city manager showed up and claimed it would be a $275 million project. At the same time, there was a paper in front of the board that said it would be a $100 million project, and at the CIP meeting last June, they said it would be a $70 million project," Foster said.
Government projects can take years — decades even. Charlie Ebeling, the City of Goleta's Public Works Director, explains that preliminary cost estimates can be inaccurate and blueprints obsolete.
"That graphic that you're looking at was made over 10 years ago," Ebeling said.
Ebeling says that the roundabout project within Project Connect and the Highway 101 bridge project are both important, but the city had to prioritize the one backed by grant money.
"Both of those projects needed to be delivered but Project Connect and the projects built into that had state and federal funding," Ebeling said.
The City of Goleta competes with the entire state of California for government grants, so getting one is a big deal.
"And those grants have requirements and timelines that you have to meet or you lose the grants," Ebeling said.
According to Ebeling, the Highway 101 bridge project is still a priority and the cost estimates are rough.
"You’ll hear the preliminary cost estimate and then you’ll hear an engineer's estimate," Ebeling said.
The engineer's estimate is done just before the project goes to contractor bidding and is the most accurate. Ebeling stressed that the Highway 101 bridge project is still a priority and the city and public will work together toward making it a reality.
