Guadalupe officials raise foot traffic concerns tied to Highway 166 and a new middle school

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In mid-August, the newly built Guadalupe Junior High School’s doors will open for the first time to incoming seventh and eighth graders.

The school on Arroyo Seco Road is near the Pasadera housing community. While most of Guadalupe—including its downtown area and the majority of housing within city limits—lies on the north side of Highway 166, Pasadera and the new junior high are on the south side.

“There’s going to be 300 kids coming from the main side of Guadalupe to that development,” Guadalupe Mayor Ariston Julian said at the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments’ (SBCAG) June 26 meeting. “It’s going to be a huge concern for us.”

Julian, an SBCAG board member, spoke about his safety concerns during a status report on recent Caltrans projects from Veronica Lezama, District 5’s branch chief for regional planning and local development review.

“Our administrator is reaching out to your office to see how Caltrans can help us with this process, … in terms of putting lights up, but that has to come from you all,” Julian told Lezama. “We’d like to sit and chat, … to see what we can do to protect these kids.”

Lezama said that a future discussion between Caltrans and Guadalupe could be arranged. 

During the Guadalupe City Council’s June 24 meeting, Guadalupe Police Chief and Public Safety Director Michael Cash discussed some temporary solutions for the council to consider while it waits for something more permanent.

“[I’m] trying to gather as much information as I possibly can to see how we can, … try to at least to keep our head above water until we get some kind of hold on this thing,” he told the council.

Cash outlined some conversations he and other city staffers have had with representatives of the Guadalupe Union School District about funding future traffic measures.

“As far as I know, there’s no [city] funds,” Cash said. “We talked about grants, but now we got to be realistic. Grants will not be here by the time that school opens. So, this is really going to fall on us.”

Councilmember Whitney Furness proposed that the city post a call for volunteer crossing guards to help in the meantime or ask for parents of Guadalupe Junior High School students to volunteer their time.

“It doesn’t hurt to try,” Cash said. “I’ll ask the superintendent to work on that and see where we can get with parents, and [the Guadalupe Police Department] would train them to at least stand on the corners to help get our kids across. It’s better than nothing.” 

This article appears in Jul 3-10, 2025.