Motorists driving on the roadways of Santa Barbara County will see closures and construction beginning on Sunday, according to press releases from Caltrans.

Improvements to the Micheltorena Street bridge in downtown Santa Barbara are scheduled to begin at 11 p.m. tonight and end at 6 a.m. Tuesday morning. That schedule will continue through Thursday morning at 6 a.m., when Caltrans expects to have finished demolishing the old bridge and building a better one. Improvements entail the replacement of the present structure with a 3-span concrete box girder bridge, rebuilding the bridge approaches, installing new streetlights, new signs and a sound wall on the southbound side of Highway 101.

Caltrans will also be repairing and cleaning rock nets along 101 in Gaviota. Approximately 2.5 miles of lane closures along both northbound and southbound 101 are expected between 7 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. starting Monday and continuing until work is complete.

One lane of southbound 101 will also be closed for emergency culvert repairs near the Refugio undercrossing north of Goleta. Beginning today, one southbound lane will be closed for two miles until work finishes Friday, Jan. 31. Motorists should expect a 10-minute delay.

Caltrans asks motorists to exercise caution when driving through construction zones.

– Drew Mackie