The final segment of the long-awaited Modoc Multi-use Path connecting Goleta to Santa Barbara is now open to the public.
Community members, elected officials and enthusiastic cyclists gathered for the annual Mayors’ Ride along the new path. This final stretch of the Modoc Multi-use Path connects the existing Obern Trail from Encore Drive to Via Senda.
“It’s a chance to see how far this community’s come … it’s taken a lot of different community partners—county, city and all of the different funds we’ve had to put together in grants to do this,” Santa Barbara Mayor Randy Rowse told attendees.
The path closes the “final gap” in an eight-mile transportation corridor, making travel from UCSB to Santa Barbara more accessible without a car. It amounts to the missing link in the chain connecting several, separated, multi-use paths.
Over 50 attendees showed up at the intersection of Modoc Road and Encore Drive alongside the Modoc Preserve. Local elected officials including Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, 37th District Assemblyman Gregg Hart, D-Santa Barbara, and Second District County Supervisor Laura Capps spoke about the history and importance of the project.
Organizers held a ribbon-cutting ceremony before cyclists embarked on the new path.
How was the project built?
Phase I of the $6.5 million path was approved by the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors in 2022 and completed in August 2023. The board gave the go-ahead for Phase II construction of the path in August 2025.
Chris Sneddon, director of Santa Barbara County’s Public Works Department, explained to the News-Press that there were multiple levels of coordination to get the path completed.
One technical hurdle was determining how many trees would be cut to make way for the path. Staunch defenders of the coveted Canary Island palm trees along Modoc Road initially pushed back on the path for this reason.
Because the path runs along the Modoc Preserve — a protected open space under a conservation easement held by the Land Trust for Santa Barbara County — an agreement had to be reached with the La Cumbre Mutual Water Company, the landowners, on preserving that area.
Funding was another challenge. According to the county, $2.6 million came from the State ATP grant, $1.3 million came from Measure A, $985,000 from County Service Area 3 Special District, $553,000 from the SB1 Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation Account, and $1 million from the County General Fund.
Behind the numbers were city, county, state and federal politicians who needed to agree this was a project worth funding.
Finally, the most significant work came in creating a path that was right for the community. That meant figuring out a path that has “the most positive impacts and the least negative impacts,” Sneddon said.
Sneddon mentioned, for example, working with MOVE Santa Barbara County on design elements to make sure it serves the most users possible, including nearby schools to determine the best routes for students.
“It really just involves bringing a lot of people together, having a lot of meetings and working through where we had conflicts to come up with the best compromises,” Sneddon said.
The path’s far-reaching benefits
It has taken nearly four years for the project to be completed in a way that balances the concerns about impact on local vegetation with the needs of the community.
“While some people may look at this as a little too much bike path, this is just what ‘basic’ looks like for safe walking and biking,” Executive Director of MOVE Santa Barbara County Sarah Iannarone told the News-Press.
Although a two-way bike lane already exists along Modoc Road, the protected multi-use path lends itself to greater use for students, families and people who don’t feel safe biking too close to cars.
Iannarone said the path makes biking or walking to school or work a more viable option for more people, especially amid higher gas prices. Currently, the average Santa Barbara County retail gas price is roughly $6.10 per gallon, $1.55 higher than the national average, according to AAA.
It’s also about making connections, said Marjie Kirn, executive director of the Santa Barbara County Association of Governments, which organized Friday’s event.
“Connections for children biking to schools safely; Connections for families walking together … Connections between neighborhoods and the coasts, schools and parks and businesses throughout our region,” Kirn said.
The Modoc Multi-use Path was one of several bike infrastructure projects explored on the 4.7-mile SBCAG Mayors’ Ride hosted by the City of Santa Barbara. Others included the bike-friendly Gillespie Street on Santa Barbara’s westside and the bike path on the Micheltorena Street bridge. The ride officially concluded at the intersection of State Street and Carrillo Street in downtown Santa Barbara.
