The three projects off the list:

• Re-striping Highway 101 to make it six lanes.
• Building a freeway through the ocean or the foothills to take pressure off101.
• Creating an "advanced vehicle transport": Cars and passengers are loaded onto high-speed trains on a "guide way" 30 feet above the freeway.

Among the 31 projects on the list:

• Eliminating on-street parking on State Street and Hollister Avenue during rush hour
• Running commuter train service along the Union Pacific tracks.
• Building a monorail in the freeway corridor.
• Starting a high-speed ferry service to Ventura.
• Operating a commuter bus service that runs on the 101 shoulder during rush hour.
• Creating a toll lane both ways.

Three "fatally flawed" schemes for freeway congestion relief through the South Coast - inc1uding re-striping Highway 101 to six lanes, building an ocean viaduct and moving cars on elevated train -came off the table Wednesday, leaving a list of 31 projects for community to ponder.

Wednesday's discussion by a committee of Santa Barbara County Association of Governments at the Metropolitan transit District headquarters In Santa Barbara marked the first step, albeit a small one one, in a $1.6 million study on 101 congestion. The study was launched in March, and a final decision is not expected until mid-2005.

The 13-member association has said the outcome, whatever form it takes, must include widening the freeway in some fashion from Milpas Street to the Ventura County line.

Many other ideas are under consideration, too, including a commuter train service along the Union Pacific tracks, a monorail in the freeway corridor, an extra lane on what is now the freeway median, a high-speed ferry service between Ventura and Santa Barbara, a commuter bus service that runs on the freeway shoulder during rush hour and a toll lane in each direction.

But the three ideas axed Wednesday had "fatal flaws."

Re-striping would be unsafe because it would require paving over the highway shoulders, Greg Albright, the regional Caltrans director, told the committee. Re-striping, Mr. Albright said, wouldn't work even as an temporary fix for the workday traffic jams that extend for miles between Ventura and Santa Barbara.

"In areas where it's been tried, we've seen an increase in accidents, major lane closures and disruptions," he said. "We have so much history that shows the disadvantages outweigh the benefits."

A bypass freeway through the ocean or the foothills to take the pressure off 101 would cost billions of dollars and take 20 years to build, never mind the problem of environmental impacts, planners told the committee.

And the concept of "advanced vehicle transport," in which cars and passengers are loaded onto high-speed trains on a "guideway" 30 feet above the freeway, is simply unproven, they said.

"It's just a concept on somebody's Web site," said Robert Bramen, a consultant hired by the association to prepare the plan for 101. "You would be the proving ground for this technology."

Some of the ideas under study are directed at penalizing drivers. These include eliminating on-street parking on State Street and Hollister Avenue during rush hour; reducing the number of all-day parking spaces downtown; and charging an extra $2 for parking in downtown lots all day.

Other proposals would stagger workers' shifts to lower the number of drivers coming and going at rush hour.

For now, Mr. Bramen said, the next step is to hold a series of round-table discussions, primarily by invitation. The goal, he said, is to narrow the list of 31 projects to eight or nine for further study. These, in turn, would go to local city councils for discussion, then back to the association committee for more sifting.

"We simply have to cut this list," Santa Barbara Councilman Dan Secord said Wednesday. "We can't analyze everything."

Invitations to the round tables will be sent for representatives of community groups, consultants said. Individuals who are interested in attending should register under "Get Involved" at www.l0linmotion.com.