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Central Coast Highway Damaged By Storm Could Be Closed Until Mid-March

(Photo by Mike Eliason, Santa Barbara County Fire Department)
Damage to Highway 154 near Lake Cachuma

Caltrans officials say it will be weeks still before a major Central Coast highway closed by storm flooding reopens. Highway 154 has been closed in the Lake Cachuma area for more than two weeks, after debris blocked an underground culvert, causing flooding which damaged the roadway.

Crews have been working around the clock to clear the culvert, and repair the damage, but it’s expected to be mid-March before the highway is reopened. Motorists trying to get from Santa Barbara to the Santa Ynez Valley have to use Highway 101.

Highway 154 out of Santa Barbara is open as far northwest as the Live Oak area.

Lance Orozco has been News Director of KCLU since 2001, providing award-winning coverage of some of the biggest news events in the region, including the Thomas and Woolsey brush fires, the deadly Montecito debris flow, the Borderline Bar and Grill attack, and Ronald Reagan's funeral. 
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