State Route 246 (SR 246) is a

state highway A state highway, state road, or state route (and the equivalent provincial highway, provincial road, or provincial route) is usually a road that is either ''numbered'' or ''maintained'' by a sub-national state or province. A road numbered by a ...

in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

that runs from

Lompoc Lompoc ( ; Chumash: ''Lum Poc'') is a city in Santa Barbara County, California. Located on the Central Coast, Lompoc has a population of 43,834 as of July 2021. Lompoc has been inhabited for thousands of years by the Chumash people, who called ...

east to Solvang and

Santa Ynez Santa Ynez (; Spanish for "St. Agnes") is a census-designated place (CDP) in the Santa Ynez Valley of Santa Barbara County, California. The town of Santa Ynez is one of the communities of the Santa Ynez Valley. It features the Santa Ynez Airport ...

, cutting through the

Santa Ynez Valley The Santa Ynez Valley is located in Santa Barbara County, California, between the Santa Ynez Mountains to the south and the San Rafael Mountains to the north. The Santa Ynez River flows through the valley from east to west. The Santa Ynez Valle ...

and the Santa Barbara Wine Country. Its western terminus is along Ocean Avenue at the western city limits of Lompoc, and its eastern terminus is at State Route 154 in Santa Ynez.

Route description

Most of the road is two lanes wide, with the exception of the route through the cities of Lompoc and Buellton. This is the primary route from

U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...

to Solvang, one of the

's biggest tourist attractions. It follows the

Santa Ynez River The Santa Ynez River is one of the largest rivers on the Central Coast of California. It is long, ArcExplorer GIS data viewer. flowing from east to west through the Santa Ynez Valley, reaching the Pacific Ocean at Surf, near Vandenberg Space Fo ...

for most of its length. The portion of the route through Solvang is called ''Mission Drive'', while through Lompoc—including the portion where it is co-signed with State Route 1—it is called ''Ocean Avenue''. SR 246 begins at the western city limits of Lompoc, where it runs along Ocean Avenue to H Street, joining SR 1. The SR 246/SR 1 concurrency continues east along Ocean Avenue to the eastern edge of the city. SR 246 then splits from SR 1 and heads northeast out of Lompoc along a relatively flat two-lane road until reaching Buellton, where it widens upon its intersection with US 101. It narrows once again to two lanes through Solvang and Santa Ynez before reaching its eastern terminus at the junction with State Route 154. This is the main alternate route from Northern

Santa Barbara County Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria. Santa Barba ...

to the South Coast. It is also notable for passing two of Santa Barbara County's three Spanish-era missions, Santa Inés (in Solvang) and La Purísima Concepción (near Lompoc). Part of SR 246 in Lompoc is in the National Highway System, a network of highways that are considered essential to the country's economy, defense, and mobility by the

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

History

In 1933, this was designated as a state highway, and was numbered as Route 149 in 1935. In 1963, it was part of State Route 154. In the 1964 state highway renumbering, it was renumbered to SR 246. SR 246 used to run all the way west to Surf, but this segment along Ocean Avenue to the western city limits of Lompoc was relinquished to local control in 1984.

Major intersections

References

External links

{{commonscat
California @ AARoads.com - State Route 246Caltrans: Route 246 highway conditions

246 __NOTOC__ Year 246 ( CCXLVI) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar, the 246th Year of the Common Era ( CE) and Anno Domini ( AD) designations, the 246th year of the 1st millennium, th ...

State Route 246 Lompoc, California Solvang, California

Route description

History

Major intersections

See also

References

External links