Whenever it rains, traffic flows badly in Santa Barbara under the best of circumstances, but add a giant tree trimming project on the main road and cars come to a stop.
Near the Army Reserve building on upper State Street at Las Positas, workers are a couple hundred feet in the air, pruning the immense ficus trees that grow there. The branches drop into a lane that is closed to traffic. On the other side of the intersection, cars are bunched up to Broadmoor Plaza, as drivers lean on their horns in frustration, unable to see why they’ve all come to a stop.
The City of Santa Barbara’s urban forester, Nathan Slack, said the tree trimming was routine maintenance to keep the ficus from becoming top heavy or over-extending their limbs. The contractor has one more day of trimming to go. After Friday, the obstructions will end, he said.
