Speed Limits Drop on Handful of Santa Barbara Streets

The speed limits for five downtown Santa Barbara streets will be reduced by five miles an hour; three from 35 miles an hour to 30 (La Colina Road, Yanonali from Calle César Chávez to Garden, and Loma Alta from Cliff to Shoreline); two from 30 to 25 (De la Vina from Mission to Haley and Yanonali from Garden to State streets.) For city police to legally enforce speed limits, traffic engineers must conduct periodic street speed surveys to determine whether speed limits match prevailing driving speeds. Of the 12 streets surveyed, traffic engineers found the prevailing speeds were significantly less than the posted speed limits on five of the streets. Typically, such surveys result in very few changes.