Chick-fil-A is rebuilding a drive-thru in California after residents complained about traffic congestion

• Chick-fil-A is rebuilding a drive-thru in Santa Barbara, CA, after its long lines disrupted traffic.
• Changes include adding an extra lane, new ordering stations, and widening the entrance driveway.

Chick-fil-A is rebuilding a drive-thru in Santa Barbara, California, after residents complained about traffic congestion.

The restaurant, which is located on upper State Street, said on social media that it would temporarily close from May 22 through late July to make changes.

These include converting the drive-thru from one lane to two, adding new ordering stations, widening the entrance driveway, and reconfiguring the existing parking lot to remove 15 parking spaces and add more bike racks, filings with the city council show. The plans also include changing the exit so that vehicles can't turn left into oncoming traffic.

The bustling restaurant had caused numerous traffic problems for the city, leading to complaints from residents, and multiple collisions had taken place in front of the site.

But this Santa Barbara restaurant isn't the only one to have irritated local residents.

A selection of Chick-fil-A restaurants across the US have annoyed residents, other businesses, and city representatives because of their massive drive-thru lines that snake down the road and cause traffic buildups.

In some cases, this has led to lawsuits. Earlier this year, officials in Charlotte, North Carolina, told a problematic Chick-fil-A restaurant to demolish its building and start over with a drive-thru-only model.

Studies show that it takes eight-and-a-half minutes to go through the drive-thru at Chick-fil-A, which is considerably slower than at McDonald's, Wendy's, Burger King, and a number of other fast-food chains. This is because the restaurant is so popular that there is almost always a line of cars.

The Santa Barbara restaurant's franchise owner told local news site Noozhawk that it serves between 1,700 and 2,200 customers daily.

In late 2021, Santa Barbara City Council said that Chick-fil-A had been "actively pursuing" ways of combating its long lines, including taking orders outside and car service.

But this didn't solve all the problems. "In recent years, the queuing from Chick-fil-A's drive-through onto State Street has created serious traffic congestion, as well as hazardous conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, and those with disabilities," Santa Barbara City Council said in March 2022.

That June, the City Council approved the restaurant's proposed traffic circulation agreement after previously threatening to declare it a public nuisance and even shut down its drive-thru.

The agreement included hiring a designated traffic attendant, adding more staff during peak hours, looking for off-site parking for staff, preventing truck deliveries during peak hours, and not allowing armored cars servicing the site to park on State Street, local news publication The Santa Barbara Independent reported.