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Public Safety

Car-mageddon Hits Highway 101 in Santa Barbara County

A series of traffic collisions on a rainy Tuesday slows traffic and shuts down the freeway and railroads.

Car-mageddon Hits Highway 101 in Santa Barbara County

One traffic collision after another hit Highway 101 on Tuesday, backing up traffic, causing multiple freeway closures, and shutting down railways.

The rainy day saw multiple crashes, including a MarBorg garbage truck that overturned in a collision south of Sheffield Drive in Montecito. The truck crashed into the northbound highway’s concrete barriers and caused a full closure of northbound lanes, diverting traffic at Sheffield Drive.

As of 5:38 p.m., the closure had ended and the roadway was open. However, traffic was still significantly slowed from Carpinteria through Santa Barbara due to the halting combination of rush hour and a series of traffic incidents — the overturned garbage truck, which was reported by California Highway Patrol at 1:03 p.m., marked the sixth of the day in the region but not the last.

A woman sustained moderate injuries and was transported to Cottage Hospital after her Toyota 4-Runner plunged 30 feet down the side of the road just south of the Refugio exit on Tuesday morning. | Credit: CHP