If you are heading north from Los Angeles or San Diego areas

 The easiest way to get north of Santa Barbara now is to bypass Santa Barbara completely. From places like San Diego or Los Angeles Counties for example, take Interstate 5 north to avoid the Highway 101 closure north of Santa Barbara. So, unless you are trying to get to Santa Barbara or Goleta it's better to avoid 101 completely at this point.

Coming south the same thing is true from everywhere from San Francisco, or Sacramento or Portland or Seattle or Canada. You want to avoid Highway 101 because unless you take 154 which is a lot longer than 101 you mostly cannot get through this area unless you take Interstate 5 or some 4 wheel drive roads mostly because there are so few roads between Buellton and Santa Barbara to begin with. This is fairly rugged country with a lot of cattle and stuff and not many people so there are very few roads through to Santa Barbara from Buellton except for 154 besides 101.