Iwan2go

My husband and I drove from the San Fernando Valley to Santa Barbara for lunch today, Saturday of the Memorial Day weekend. We departed at 9:30 am and hit a little bit of traffic in the area described below, but on our southbound drive home we observed the afternoon northbound traffic - and whoa, it was really bad. I realize that holiday traffic was heavier than normal, but would like to give some general advice and help for the conditions from the city of Ventura to Santa Barbara.

A few miles after Ventura you will see a sign about a “crossover”. Northbound traffic will be separated in two for about six miles. There are two (I think) lanes to the right side which allow trucks and exiting the freeway at the FEW beach communities (I don’t think you will have any reason to do that...), and the other to the left. TAKE THE ONE ON THE LEFT. Observing it on the return, we could see a big difference between the two options.

Highway 101 is one of the two options going north from Southern California (the other is the boring but faster 5). Anyone else have an experience, please add on! Hoping that your visit to CA is wonderful!