Most of the road is two lanes wide, with the exception of the route through the cities of Lompoc and Buellton.[4] This is the primary route from U.S. Route 101 to Solvang. It follows the Santa Ynez River 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.[3]
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.[4]
In 1933, this was designated as a state highway,[9] and was numbered as Route 149 in 1935.[10] In 1963, it was part of State Route 154.[citation needed] In the 1964 state highway renumbering, it was renumbered to SR 246.[11] 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
Except where prefixed with a letter, postmiles were measured on the road as it was in 1964, based on the alignment that existed at the time, and do not necessarily reflect current mileage. R reflects a realignment in the route since then, M indicates a second realignment, L refers to an overlap due to a correction or change, and T indicates postmiles classified as temporary (for a full list of prefixes, see California postmile § Official postmile definitions).[12] Segments that remain unconstructed or have been relinquished to local control may be omitted. The entire route is in Santa Barbara County.
^"Santa Inés". California Missions Foundation. Retrieved February 23, 2023.
^Federal Highway Administration (March 25, 2015). National Highway System: Lompoc, CA(PDF) (Map). Scale not given. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
^Natzke, Stefan; Neathery, Mike & Adderly, Kevin (June 20, 2012). "What is the National Highway System?". National Highway System. Washington, DC: Federal Highway Administration. Retrieved July 1, 2012.
^California State Assembly. "An act...relating to State highways". Fifty-first Session of the Legislature. Statutes of California. State of California. Ch. 274.
^ abCalifornia Department of Transportation. "State Truck Route List". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation. Archived from the original(XLS file) on June 30, 2015. Retrieved June 30, 2015.
^California Department of Transportation (April 2008). "Log of Bridges on State Highways". Sacramento: California Department of Transportation.
SR 154 in Santa Ynez
