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Living with danger on 166

By Randi Block

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A roadside cross on Highway 166 notes the place of one fatality. By Len Wood

For those who live in Bakersfield, it’s the path to a vacation.

For those who own agricultural land, it’s the road to move produce across the region.

But, for those who live in tiny Cuyama, it’s the only way to get around.

Highway 166 — a winding, two-lane road that connects the Central Coast and the Central Valley — is known by residents as a dangerous street where motorists drive too fast and pass slow-moving traffic at unsafe locations.

Adding to that danger, many residents say, the road badly needs repairs and resurfacing.

Without many services in town, however, residents in the northeast Santa Barbara County community are forced to drive on the highway frequently and hope each time they will make it safely across.

“I know a lot of people that avoid it,” said Shelby Mitchell, a Cuyama resident. “ ... People drive crazy on that road and just don’t use caution.”

Dorothy Batiste agreed Highway 166 is very dangerous, especially since her husband is a longtime truck driver on the highway and knows how horrible driving conditions can be.

“I’ve been driving that road for many years, and sometimes I’m a little afraid because of people who ignore the double yellow line and pass you anyway,” she said. “They just can’t see what’s coming.”

Bakersfield resident Maria Garcia commutes daily to Cuyama but said she’s so afraid of the road that she refuses to drive it at night, forcing her husband to make the 55-mile trek in the dark to pick her up after late shifts.

Since 1997, more than 40 people have died in accidents on the highway, according to the California Highway Patrol. The most deaths in a single year, 10, occurred in 1998, 2003 and 2006.

Community attitudes toward Highway 166 were cemented in September after Cuyama Valley High School Principal Donald Wilson was killed in a crash on the road.

Wilson, 49, was driving a Chrysler Town and Country minivan east on Highway 166 when he drifted into oncoming traffic and collided head-on with a Chevy pickup truck.

The husband and wife in the truck were seriously injured, and the wife subsequently died.

“I’m more careful now on that road,” said U.S. Wilson, Donald’s father, of his attitude toward the highway since his son’s death. “And his (Donald’s) wife, she’s really careful on that road.”

Mitchell said people have started telling others to “drive carefully” every time they travel on Highway 166 since that fatal accident.

“It’s a reminder that it’s a very dangerous road,” said Jan Hensley, district superintendent. “Mr. Wilson was the safest driver you could ever imagine, but that road is tough.”

Despite all of those concerns, not everybody who ventures out onto the highway each day finds the drive very scary — in fact, some people enjoy the scenery.

Santa Barbara County Firefighter Mike Peterson lives in Nipomo and works in Cuyama, a long commute he’s learned to like.

“I love the drive; it’s so pretty,” he said. “I don’t think it’s inherently more dangerous than any other rural state road, but we’ve seen accidents over the years” because drivers aren’t careful enough.

Adding more trucks

A recent proposal to mine a 130-acre site in the Cuyama River channel, which would bring additional trucks to the highway, has increased residents’ concerns about safety.

Troesh Materials is planning a new sand and gravel mine and processing facility on the site, on the west side of Highway 33, six miles west of Highway 166.

Over 30 years, the company expects to produce approximately 13.8 million tons of material — or 500,000 to 750,000 tons a year — that would then be trucked to job sites in the region.

Planners expect between 90 and 140 truck round-trips daily to the site, but many residents say the highway can’t handle more traffic.

Karina Hogan, whose husband has known 20 people who have died through the years on Highway 166, said she lives off Highway 33 and thinks the roads are too crowded already.

Approving the Troesh project will have detrimental effects on the area, she added.

“It just can’t handle it,” she said.

Dan Woodson, a member of the South County Advisory Council for the Nipomo area, said he’s worried about what the project would mean for the intersection of highways 166 and 101 in Nipomo.

The intersection is already clogged during rush hour, he said, and that many more trucks will severely degrade the roads in the area.

However, Cherisse Troesh of Troesh Materials, has said the project is severely needed in the community and would increase construction-grade materials by 15 percent in Santa Barbara County.

The project will go before the Santa Barbara County Planning Commission in the coming weeks.

Finding a solution

Whether they blame careless drivers, unmaintained roads or large trucks, almost all residents agree something needs to be done about Highway 166, but solutions aren’t simple.

Hensley said she’d like to see turn lanes on the road, especially near the schools. Adding the extra lanes would give cars turning into Cuyama protection from other traffic.

Batiste added that more passing lanes along the highway would also provide faster-moving cars with a way to get by trucks, without having to try dangerous passing in opposing traffic.

For Wilson, slowing down traffic through town would go a long way toward solving the problem. He suggested reducing the speed limit to 45 mph, down from 55.

Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joe Centeno, who represents Cuyama, said maintaining the highway is a priority for him, and he’s anticipating some much-needed work will be started this year.

“I guess we can conclude there are some problems with 166,” Centeno said. “There needs to be some improvements that enhance the aspect of safety.”

Over the next year, Caltrans is planning several improvements to sections of the highway between Highway 101 and Cuyama, said Jim Shivers, Caltrans spokesman.

Planned to go to construction this fall are projects to add a two-way, left-turn lane from Perkins Road to Hubbard Avenue, a left-turn lane at Cuyama High School and Union School and curve realignments near the town.

In spring 2008, Caltrans will add passing lanes near Thompson Road to Wineman Road and operational improvements, including a passing lane, for Suey Creek Road, Shivers said.

Randi Block can be reached at 347-4580 or rblock@theadobepress.com.

February 16, 2007