Santa Barbara Undertakes
Infrastructure Improvements
The seaside city of Santa Barbara puts a significant amount of resources toward the well-being of its residents. Whether through its support for children in the community, provisions for local nonprofits, or construction of beautiful parks for locals to enjoy, the city offers excellent amenities to those who call Santa Barbara home.
Infrastructure is
often such a basic amenity in the average American city that many forget the
importance of its role in allowing a place like Santa Barbara to run smoothly.
Components of city infrastructure such as transportation, water quality,
recreational facilities, and electrical systems all contribute to the city’s
economy and its population’s ability to operate efficiently as they go about
their daily lives.
While the need for
an upgrade to infrastructure systems within the United States has been a
notable point of debate in recent years, the local government of Santa Barbara
has already taken steps to improve the amenities and physical systems accessed
by the metro area’s nearly 400,000 residents in the following four sectors:
1. Transportation
In order to more easily
navigate the streets of Santa Barbara, amenities such as roads, sidewalks,
bridges, and traffic signals need to be maintained and upgraded as they age. In
an effort to support the infrastructure of the city’s transportation systems,
the local government has proposed and implemented a number of recent projects.
The Zone 2 Road
Maintenance Project began in September 2015 with the goal of repairing
distressed and deteriorated pavement near the Hitchcock area north of Mission
Canyon. Additionally, roadways are now being resealed and parking lots
resurfaced in an effort to improve transportation conditions for residents. The
area of Goleta also recently approved the purchase and installation of $60,000
worth of LED traffic signals, taking a proactive approach to replacing the technology
that has been in place for longer than its suggested lifespan. In replacing certain
traffic lights with energy efficient models prior to their failure, Santa Barbara
is taking a step to avoid dangerous emergency change-outs.
Other improvements
in the area of transportation infrastructure include bridge improvement
projects, which are currently underway for several structures that stretch
across Mission Creek, including the Cabrillo Boulevard, Mason Street, and Cota
Street bridges. Collectively, the new bridges will increase flood capacity in
their areas, improve safety, and make room for more pedestrian areas and greater
walkability.
2. Water Quality and Creek Restoration
Santa Barbara’s
proximity to the ocean makes for a beautiful view, but it also requires
residents to incorporate responsible water quality practices into their daily lives.
Street runoff is a dominant factor in the pollution of local creeks and
streams, eventually reaching the Pacific Ocean where it can affect local marine
life.
In order to
improve water quality in the area, city programs and local nonprofits focus on obtaining
routine samples from water sources throughout Santa Barbara. The implementation
of storm water drains and regular street sweeping programs help prevent runoff
from becoming tainted with debris or other waste, while regulations established
in the city’s Storm Water Management Program lay out guidelines for private
residences and businesses to follow in order to avoid contaminating water
sources.
Another crucial
element to the infrastructure of water quality is the care of the creek systems
that wind throughout the city. In addition to regular creek cleanup projects
conducted by various charitable and governmental organizations, the city has
commissioned multiple restoration projects in which participants remove
invasive plants from creek banks, restore native vegetation, and remove
unnecessary manmade barriers. In doing so, the city hopes to improve environmental
health and save dwindling populations of fish native to the area, such as the
Southern California steelhead trout.
3. Parks and Recreation
Early in 2015, the
City of Santa Barbara outlined multiple proposed renovations to parks and
community facilities in a six-year capital improvement program. Among the areas
that the local government seeks to focus on are the replacement of the playground,
park infrastructure safety, and renovations to buildings such as the Municipal
Tennis Stadium.
Among the plans currently
in the early stages of development in Santa Barbara are the proposed
renovations to Cabrillo Ball Park, which includes improving the aesthetics,
upgrading safety features, and potentially creating opportunities to play a
wider variety of sports through the construction of basketball courts.
The city of Santa
Barbara also focuses on caring for its existing parks through the practice of
integrated pest management, an environmentally responsible practice that aims
to keep parks pleasant for visitors while protecting the health of both human
visitors and the land.
In order to
improve fire safety on park land, city employees also practice wildland
vegetation management in these areas, which reduces dry vegetation and
establishes fire breaks throughout local parks and the homes that surround
them.
4. Electrical Grid
The level of
energy efficiency within a city’s electrical grid can affect how much its
residents pay for power. Renovating an outdated grid can help reduce both the
production and delivery costs of an inefficient system and can contribute to
the conservation of resources.
In April 2015,
energy company Southern California Edison announced that it will be making $12
million worth of renovations to downtown Santa Barbara’s power grid over a
two-year period. The process will involve replacing outdated and malfunctioning
parts, placing distribution poles, and adding newer technology that will allow
for remote-controlled amenities that can be used to return power in the event
of an emergency or natural disaster.
By upgrading the
electrical grid, professionals will also be able to minimize the city’s number
of unexpected outages. Additionally, the technology will help these men and
women to more easily identify and isolate the outages, leading to quicker
response times and faster restoration of power.
