Near Ekwill Street, a short piece of Kellogg Way is closed 24 hours a day. Detour signs send drivers around the crews building the final segment of the Ekwill Street extension. That one closed block is the last missing link in Project Connect, the road and bridge program the City of Goleta has been building through Old Town since it awarded the construction contract in December 2023.
Most of the project is already in the ground. Drivers have used the roundabouts for months, the new Hollister Avenue bridge over San Jose Creek is finished, and a new section of creek path along Highway 217 is paved and visible from the road. Much of that work only does its full job once Ekwill runs through. The City describes Old Town's road system as having inadequate east–west circulation north and south of Hollister, and it says the project will relieve regional congestion along Hollister Avenue. Until the Kellogg Way segment opens, Old Town has the new pieces without the parallel street they were built around.
What Is Already Open, and What Is Not
On the City's timeline, Old Town has been changing in stages since early this year.
| Piece of Project Connect | Status heading into November 2026 |
|---|---|
| Two Hollister Avenue roundabouts at the Highway 217 ramps | Opened March 1, 2026, with temporary striping. Final landscaping and aesthetic work was still scheduled |
| Replacement Hollister Avenue bridge over San Jose Creek | Listed as completed in the City's March 2026 update |
| Pine Avenue and Ekwill Street roundabout | Opened July 10, 2026 |
| Ekwill Street extension, Kellogg Avenue to Fairview Avenue | Final segment under construction, "slated to open later this year" |
| S. Kellogg Avenue segment linking Technology Drive | Still underway in March 2026, with no opening date posted |
| San Jose Creek path, southern section | Built along Highway 217 but still closed |
The City's March 2026 update and its current page disagree on Ekwill. The March update grouped the Ekwill connection from Kellogg to Fairview with the completed work. The City's October 2026 construction update is newer and is the one to go by. It says crews are still building the final segment and that the extension has not opened. The City has not posted a ribbon-cutting date.
Even the parts that are open are still being finished. On Monday, Oct. 12, drainage work started at the west end of the Hollister roundabout near the southbound Highway 217 off-ramp and Dearborn Place. The City expected the closure to last about a week. During that time, drivers leaving Dearborn Place or the off-ramp could turn right onto Hollister but could not head east, and the City suggested reaching Ward Drive by taking Highway 101 to the Patterson Avenue exit. An earlier City notice gave Oct. 8 as the expected start, so the dates moved at least once before work began.
Why One Segment Holds Up the Rest
The Ekwill extension is a new east–west street from Kellogg Avenue to Fairview Avenue, crossing Old Town at Pine Avenue. The City describes it as better access to Old Town businesses and neighborhoods and to Santa Barbara Airport. Its stated goals include access to southern Old Town, relief for regional congestion on Hollister, and better routes for bicycles and pedestrians.
That is why the Pine Avenue roundabout looks a little early. When it opened in July, KSBY called it a major milestone for Project Connect. The City says traffic is moving smoothly through it. But it sits on a street that cannot carry anyone across Old Town until the Kellogg Way work is done. Today it works as an intersection. Once Ekwill opens, it becomes one stop on a second through route.
The new segments are built to the same standard. Each has one travel lane in each direction, left-turn pockets, Class II bike lanes, sidewalks and landscaped parkways. That makes Ekwill a different kind of street from the Hollister that people know through Old Town, which has spent two years under interim striping and construction traffic control.
The western piece changed along the way. The project still carries the name Fowler Road, but its current street name is S. Kellogg Avenue, and its planned segment links Technology Drive with the existing S. Kellogg. The original 1996 scope ran Fowler Road east to a signalized intersection with State Route 217. In 2016, Santa Barbara Airport declined the City's request to build Fowler Road west of Old San Jose Creek because that stretch fell within the Airport Protection Zone, so the project now runs from S. Kellogg Avenue to Technology Drive. Older maps show a longer road than the one being built.
The project has two price tags, and they measure different things. The City approved a $62,746,460 construction contract with Security Paving in December 2023. The Santa Barbara County Association of Governments project page, published December 18, 2025, estimates the overall project cost at $100 million, including $9.8 million in Measure A funding. The first number is the construction contract. The second is SBCAG's estimate for the whole project. The City's March 2026 update put overall completion in spring 2027. That forecast came before the current Ekwill delay, so it is the latest published target, not a confirmed date.
A Path You Can See and Can't Use Yet
The San Jose Creek multipurpose path follows the same pattern of finished but not open. In its October 2026 update, the City says crews finished a section next to Highway 217 that connects to the existing Atascadero Creek Bikeway, also called the Obern Trail. The section stays closed while construction continues nearby, and the City asks people not to enter the work areas.
The project page lists two segments:
- Southern segment, about 1.00 mile: from South Kellogg Avenue along San Jose Creek beside Highway 217 to the Obern Trail.
- Northern segment, about 0.50 miles: from the existing paths at Calle Real along the west side of San Jose Creek to Armitos Avenue, ending at the path by Jonny D. Wallis Park.
The southern segment starts at South Kellogg Avenue, on the same western edge of Old Town where the Ekwill work is happening. Once both open, that corner becomes a meeting point for a new street with bike lanes and an off-street path running to the coast route.
Replacement planting is also going in. Project Connect removed trees and vegetation, and the City is planting more than 3,600 native trees and plants across about four acres to make up for it. Species include Western Sycamore, Coast Live Oak, Black Cottonwood and several willows. The sites are Ellwood Mesa, Lake Los Carneros, Ekwill Street, and the Fowler Road and Old San Jose Creek areas. Planting began in June 2026, and the City expects to finish in late fall.
Breakfast on the Street Ekwill Is Meant to Relieve
Old Town's newest restaurant is betting on Hollister even with all the construction. Eddie's Grill, a family diner started in Lompoc in 2014, took over the former Goodland BBQ space at 5725 Hollister Ave. Brothers Eduardo and Alfredo Villa and Eduardo's son, Diego, run the Goleta location.
Eduardo Villa explained the opening to Noozhawk in terms of the street: "It's kind of a busy street right here, and I don't see very much action during the breakfast time." The menu runs from pancakes, omelets, waffles and biscuits and gravy at breakfast to burgers, salads and wraps at lunch and fish and steak at dinner. The Goleta location also breaks from the chain's usual setup. Guests at the other Eddie's Grill locations typically order at the counter, but here they order at the table.
Edhat reported that the restaurant held a soft opening in early October and had not set a grand-opening date. A full-service breakfast room on Old Town's main street is a bet that Hollister can work as a place to stop and stay a while. The city is building Ekwill to take some through traffic off that same block.
The First Big Test Could Come on December 5
The Old Town Goleta Holiday Parade is Saturday, Dec. 5, at 6 p.m. It runs along Hollister Avenue from Orange Avenue to Kinman Avenue, and parade-entry registration closes Nov. 21.
That section of Hollister is exactly what Ekwill was planned to back up. If the City meets its "later this year" target before early December, the parade would be the first major Hollister closure in Old Town with a parallel east–west street open just to the south. If the Kellogg Way segment is still under construction, the evening will work the way it always has. The City posts Ekwill progress on its Project Connect page and takes questions at [email protected] or 805-690-5116.
If you're wondering how the Ekwill corridor, the S. Kellogg work or the San Jose Creek path will change daily access to a property in Old Town or near the airport, The Morehart Group follows these projects block by block. Work with our Montecito specialists, and request a private consultation.
