Traffic update: I-5 reopens, Highway 101 on the Central Coast is clear
Update Saturday 9:00 a.m.:
Traffic is flowing smoothly on Highway 101 across the Central Coast, with no apparent delays in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara or Ventura county.
Traffic is slightly slowed on Highway 41 and Highway 58. Chains are currently required on Highway 33 from Pine Mountain Inn to Lockwood.
Update 7:15 p.m.: Traffic is easing up on Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo County Friday evening.
A collision in the northbound lanes at the Madonna Road off ramp is causing some delay, resulting in additional traffic on surface streets.
Southbound traffic is clear from Paso Robles to Arroyo Grande, then slows south through Nipomo.
Northbound traffic remains slow through the city of San Luis Obispo and between Atascadero and Templeton.
Update 6:36 p.m.: Heavy traffic continues to delay travel times in some areas of Highway 101 across the Central Coast.
Several collisions in San Luis Obispo County have caused intermittent delays.
Travelers are stuck in traffic in northbound lanes between Atascadero and Paso Robles due to a two-car collision.
Another collision in San Luis Obispo is causing a long crawl through the city, according to the CHP.
Southbound traffic from San Luis Obispo to Nipomo is slowed following a rear end collision.
Other areas of Highway 101 in San Luis Obispo County are generally clear, including Highway 46 and Highway 41 at the Cholame “Y,” but bumper-to-bumper traffic continues to plague travelers headed north from Ventura to Santa Barbara.
Highway 58 has heavy traffic, while travel over the Grapevine has been fairly clear since it reopened Friday afternoon following closure from heavy snow and ice.
Original story: Highway 101 through San Luis Obispo County remained heavily congested on Friday as a result of the closure of Interstate 5 along the Grapevine due to poor weather conditions, as well as other road closures.
Northbound traffic was a bumper-to-bumper crawl for post-holiday travelers from Ventura to Santa Barbara on Friday morning and there was heavy traffic between Santa Maria and Nipomo, and from Arroyo Grande to Pismo Beach.
Heavy morning fog limited visibility on Highway 101 from Templeton to Paso Robles.
Some of the delays were caused by collisions, including two collisions involving a total of six vehicles north of Nipomo near the N. Los Berros Road off-ramp.
The stretch of Interstate 5 over the Grapevine remained closed for most of the morning due to heavy snow and ice on Frazier Mountain.
Single-digit temperatures on the roadway caused miles of roadway to freeze, CHP Fort Tejon said in a tweet Friday morning.
The CHP began escorting traffic in both north and southbound lanes on Interstate 5 over the Grapevine at about 10:30 a.m. Friday, CHP Fort Tejon said in a tweet. By then, many commuters who took Highway 101 as a detour were already stuck in heavy traffic.
State officials also closed Highway 33 from south of Highway 166 to Ojai due to bad weather. That stretch of highway reopened at about 1 p.m.
Highway 58 in the Tehachapi Mountains was also closed Friday morning as Caltrans worked to clear several vehicles, according to a Caltrans District 9 tweet. The highway was open but eastbound traffic was moving very slowly late Friday afternoon.
Highway 166, which closed east of Highway 101 on Thursday following a series of collisions, was temporarily closed again Friday morning when a semi-trailer truck carrying live chickens overturned.
All day, drivers traveling westbound on Highway 41 found themselves in a jam approaching the Cholame “Y” following a vehicle collision around 1:35 p.m., according to the CHP.
Further south, northbound traffic was slow between Ventura and Santa Barbara as a result of a sink hole and planned construction, the CHP said.
This story was originally published December 27, 2019 at 9:50 AM.
