Editing Santa Maria, California (section)

==Infrastructure==
===Transportation===
====Roads====
[[File:CA 135 northern terminus.jpg|thumb|Route 135 as Broadway in Santa Maria near its northern terminus, looking southbound, June 2014]]
[[U.S. Route 101 (California)|U.S. Route 101]] runs through the middle of the [[Santa Maria Valley]] and is the main [[Limited-access road|freeway]] connecting many West Coast cities. It has been improved to freeway status (meaning all at-grade intersections have been eliminated) within the city of Santa Maria itself. A $32 million widening project that expanded the freeway from four to six lanes between Santa Maria Way and the Highway 166 exit was completed by early 2009.

[[California State Route 1|State Route 1]] runs around the western edge of the city and connects it to nearby [[Vandenberg Space Force Base]] near [[Lompoc, California|Lompoc]]. The section of US 101 in the city is a freeway, and a small part of a nearby section of Highway 1 that runs between the city and the base is also a freeway, but the two freeway segments do not directly connect to each other.

[[California State Route 135|State Route 135]] is considered to be the major artery through the city. It comes from [[Los Alamos, California|Los Alamos]], a town to the south of Santa Maria, and it enters Orcutt and Santa Maria as an expressway. The expressway runs all the way to Santa Maria Way. Highway 135 then turns into Broadway and runs through the heart of the city and all the way up to the Santa Maria River and U.S. 101.

====Rail====
The [[Santa Maria Valley Railroad]] (SMVRR) is a shortline freight [[railroad]] to [[Guadalupe, California|Guadalupe]] where the [[Union Pacific Railroad]] Interchange point is. Main business includes storage of railroad cars when northern California and southern California storage area are full. In the 1990s, the city proposed a [[light rail]] service to replace the SMV's right-of-way, as its future was uncertain.

The nearest [[train station]] with long-distance [[Amtrak]] service is in [[Guadalupe, California|Guadalupe]], to which Amtrak provides bus service from Santa Maria. Amtrak's [[Pacific Surfliner]] provides twice daily service in each direction, running to [[San Luis Obispo, California|San Luis Obispo]] to the north and to [[San Diego]] via [[Los Angeles]] to the south.

[[Amtrak Thruway]] [[Amtrak Thruway#18|18]] provides a daily connection to/from 205 South Nicholson Street to [[Visalia, California|Visalia]], with several stops in between.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://amtraksanjoaquins.com/route18/ | title=Route18 }}</ref>

====Bus====
SMAT, [[Santa Maria Area Transit]], is a local bus service provided by both city and county-run lines, it has recently expanded its services during the evening that stretch to 10:15 P.M. [[The Breeze Bus]] provides service to Lompoc, [[Vandenberg Space Force Base]], and Santa Maria. [[San Luis Obispo Regional Transit Authority|RTA]] Route 10 connects Santa Maria and San Luis Obispo. The [[Guadalupe Transit|Guadalupe Flyer]] connects Santa Maria and [[Guadalupe, California|Guadalupe]].

Long-distance intercity bus service is provided by [[Greyhound Lines]]. The [[Clean Air Express]] commuter bus runs between Santa Maria and Goleta as well as a line to Santa Barbara weekdays.

====Airport====
[[File:Pacific Skyway Jetstream 31 N653JX-SMX-Feb2000.jpg|thumb|right|[[Santa Maria Public Airport]]]]
The [[Santa Maria Public Airport]] is served by one airline, [[Allegiant Air]]. Allegiant Air operates nonstop jet service to Las Vegas.

===Courts===
Santa Maria is home to one of three official Superior Court locations in Santa Barbara County, with the other courthouse located in [[Santa Barbara, California|Santa Barbara]]. From 2003 to 2005, the Superior Court handled a felony complaint against [[Michael Jackson]] (see [[Michael Jackson: 2005 trial]]) which reached a not guilty verdict on June 13, 2005. The District Attorney chose to present the trial in Santa Maria due to its close proximity from [[Neverland Ranch]] where the alleged incident took place.

===Law enforcement===
As the primary [[law enforcement agency]] for the City of Santa Maria, the Santa Maria Police Department handles approximately 130,000 calls for service each year. The [[Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Office]] also operates within the city in addition to the Santa Maria Park Officers who consist of 6 sworn officers who derive their authority under CA Penal code section 831.31(b). The SMPD is administratively divided into the three divisions, [[Administration (government)|Administration]], Operations, and [[Technical support|Support]], and has 111 sworn officers and 49 full-time support personnel.<ref>[http://www.ci.santa-maria.ca.us/40451.html "Department Organization"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050621192437/http://www.ci.santa-maria.ca.us/40451.html|date=June 21, 2005}}</ref>