Orcutt drivers can now either sail through two intersections or yield and stop because of two new traffic signals on the southeast end of the community.

Four-way stop signs at Bradley and Patterson roads and at Bradley and Rice Ranch roads were recently changed to traffic signals as part of conditions set for the Rice Ranch housing development south of Rice Ranch Road.

The signals were called for in the Orcutt Transportation Improvement Plan and were required to be installed before anyone could occupy the new homes at Rice Ranch, according to Dace Morgan, the design engineer manager for the Santa Barbara County Public Works Department.

Although traffic signals are often installed because of high traffic volume or a significant number of accidents, the signals at the two Orcutt intersections were “mitigations triggered by the Rice Ranch development,” Morgan said.

All the conditions set forth for the 725-unit Rice Ranch project, including a 26-acre park, have now been met, project spokesman Jim LaLoggia said, and homeowners are set to move into the first phase of homes later this month.

The funding for the installation of the signals came from a mitigation fund in the Orcutt Transportation Improvement Plan, Morgan said.

The county defines roadway and intersection operation in terms of levels of service, A through F, with A being free flow and F being highly congested.

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The four-way stop at Bradley and Patterson roads was rated a B in 2002 and in 10 years the level of service would have been a C, which is the county’s current acceptable standard for roadways in the south Orcutt area.

With the traffic signal as a mitigation measure, the intersection is now rated A.

The intersection of Bradley and Rice Ranch roads was rated an A but with the neighboring Pine Grove School, the developers voluntarily installed the traffic signal and have employed a crossing guard for added protection, according to the Rice Ranch Specific Plan and LaLoggia.

Separate from the Rice Ranch development mitigation, the county has begun the initial design for another traffic signal on Bradley Road, at the intersection of Union Valley Parkway.

Sam Womack can be reached at

739-2218 or swomack@santamariatimes.com.

September 11, 2008