1 STAFF REPORT
DATE: August 12, 2025
TO: Justin Hess, City Manager
FROM: Patrick Prescott, Community Development Director VIA: David Kriske, Assistant Community Development Director – Transportation
BY: Christopher Buonomo, Senior Transportation Planner
SUBJECT: Approval of Safer Streets Burbank Action Plan
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt A RESOLUTION OF THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF BURBANK ADOPTING
THE SAFER STREETS BURBANK ACTION PLAN (SSBAP) AND DECLARING CATEGORICAL EXEMPTION UNDER CEQA (Attachment 1).
BACKGROUND
At the January 10, 2023, City Council (Council) meeting, staff presented a first step report on Complete Streets Plan Implementation and Vision Zero. Vision Zero P lans seek to eliminate traffic -related fatalities across all modes of travel and enhance coordination across the various disciplines associated with planning, designing, implementing, and enforcing transportation systems. Based on that report, Council approved funding to develop a Vision Zero Plan as part of the Fiscal Year 2023-24 Adopted Budget.
A Vision Zero Plan builds on the foundation set by the Burbank2035 General Plan Mobility Element, the Bicycle Master Plan, and the Complete Streets Plan, which all include policies to improve safety for people of all ages, abilities, and modes who navigate the City’s transportation network. In its most basic form, Vision Zero Plans use data analysis to identify where in the City roadway collisions occur, asses the underlying causes for these collisions, and prescribe proposed projects to address those issues that can be implemented quickly. As projects are implemented, this process repeats to determine how
COMMUNITY
DEVELOPMENT
2 projects affect the rates and patterns of collisions, and where to address new areas of concern. The goal is to gradually reduce and then eliminate traffic -related fatalities and severe injuries across the transportation network.
Staff presented an update on the development of the Plan (renamed the Safer Streets Burbank Action Plan (SSBAP)) on July 30, 2024, including the network of highest priority streets to concentrate the City’s safety efforts called the “Focus Network” (Attachment 3).
Based on input from Council during that meeting, staff utilized crash data to refine the draft SSBAP and developed a data-driven plan that identifies roadways to be addressed, countermeasures to be considered for implementation, and process improvements to bolster implementation strategies (Attachment 2).
In addition to Council’s guidance, federal and state programs have encouraged cities to adopt roadway safety plans in this design. A Local Road Safety Plan is a requirement for several major roadway improvement grant programs, including the state Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and the federal Safe Streets and Roads For All (SS4A) program. For this reason, the Complete Streets Plan adopted in 2020 included development of a Local Road Safety Plan as a short -term priority project. The SSBAP qualifies as a Local Road Safety Plan and enables the City to apply for a wider range of roadway safety project funding opportunities.
DISCUSSION
Staff has developed the SSBAP as a response to Council’s directive to investigate and formulate a Vision Zero Plan. The SSBAP outlines the City’s vision to bring the number of fatal and severe crashes to zero by 2035. To achieve this, the plan operates according to seven key guiding principles:
1. Safety is our highest priority.
2. Our streets should be safe and comfortable for all who use them.
3. Manage speed to save lives.
4. Use a context-sensitive and data-driven approach.
5. Immediate action is critical.
6. Each City department has a leadership role in helping us reach zero.
7. Build on prior planning work.
Initial Data Analysis
The foundation of the SSBAP is data analysis. Staff from the Community Development, Police, and Public Works Department s worked collaboratively to source data on all vehicle collisions from 2018 to 2022. A five-year selection of data is the typical timeframe used by other cities’ programs and in various grant program applications and is the 3 required timeframe for Local Road Safety Plans. The initial step of data analysis was to observe overall roadway trends in the City. Between 2018 and 2022, 3,835 collisions occurred on local roadways in Burbank. Of these, 2,123, or 55% , resulted in an injury of some kind, and 105 collisions resulted in somebody being killed or serious injury (KSI).
While pedestrians, bicyclists, and motorcyclists were involved in just 24% of all injury collisions, they accounted for 64% of KSI collisions. This overall data is similar to data trends of local peer cities.
1 Addressing Collision Trends with the Safe Systems Approach Drawing on this data analysis, the SSBAP focuses on interventions designed to address the most severe collisions in locations that will have the most impact. Across all modes of transportation in Burbank, intersections are the most common site of crashes, and the largest share of injury crashes occurs on streets with posted speed limits of 30 mph or higher (Attachment 2, pages 16- 17). Research shows that the number one indicator of crash severity is speed.
2 A data- driven approach therefore suggests that addressing serious crashes requires focusing on reducing vehicle speeds and on reducing the potential for conflicts at intersections.
Federal and state guidance recommends the Safe System approach to street safety. This approach acknowledges the inevitability of human mistakes but emphasizes redundancy as a way of reducing the severity of those mistakes . By layering multiple approaches to safety—slower speeds, roadway design changes, safer driver behavior, etc. —Safe Systems create more chances to avoid a system failure resulting in death or serious injury. The Focus Network, Action Items, and Priority Projects in the SSBAP reflect Burbank-specific collision data and apply the Safe Systems approach to addressing these collision trends.
Focus Network
An integral part of the data analysis was to examine collisions based on location. To understand where these collisions are occurring in the City and to analyze the underlying contextual conditions of these corridors, the City plotted all collisions in a geospatial mapping software (ArcGIS), assigning each collision a number value based on severity and transportation modes involved. Segments with values in the 85 th percentile or higher
comprise the highest priority streets, and they were identified as the “ Focus Network” (Attachment 2, page 35). The Focus Network accounts for 80% of KSIs on just 16% of the City’s roadway network from 2018-2022, most of which are arterial roadways and
1 Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS)
2 Fatality Analysis Reporting System; Early Estimates of Motor Vehicle Traffic Fatalities and Fatality Rate by Sub- Categories in 2020, DOT HS 813 118, June 2021; AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety, Impact Speed and a Pedestrian’s Risk of Severe Injury or Death; National Traffic Speeds Survey III: 2015, DOT HS 812 485, March 2018 4 streets in Downtown.3 By focusing on t his subset of roadway segments , the City can prioritize project implementation on corridors with the highest occurrence of serious injury collisions.
Action Items and Policy Development
Safer Streets Burbank identifies six main action items to achieve its goals:
1. Implement priority projects identified in the Safer Streets Burbank Action Plan.
2. Implement strategies from the countermeasure toolbox on City streets during routine repaving, maintenance, community development, and new capital projects.
3. Utilize available state laws to lower speed limits where available throughout the City.
4. Launch a public safety education campaign about Safer Streets Burbank processes, improvements, and future engagement.
5. Establish durable funding and policy goals that prioritize street safety.
6. Improve data collection, tracking, and reporting related to Safer Streets projects and principles.
In order to effectively implement Priority Projects, the Action Items in the SSBAP (Attachment 2, pages 26- 27) aim to build the policy foundation and organizational processes to streamline implementation of countermeasures that address crash history patterns, evaluate the success of the countermeasures through regular data collection, and respond to new crash trends that become apparent.
Since roadway project design and implementation involves various City d epartments, updated internal policies can improve communication, collaboration, and understanding across groups. Together, these policies seek to standardize the processes for projects in the SSBAP to facilitate their inclusion in other large- scale capital and/or transportation improvement programs. While the Action Items reflect the need to complete additional internal policy work to improve the efficiency of project implementation, they also establish complementary processes and policies that can enhance interdepartmental collaboration to streamline project delivery over time.
Countermeasure Toolbox
A major component of the SSBAP is a toolbox of appropriate engineering and operational countermeasures. This includes proven, cost -effective methods that can address road safety issues at locations on the Focus Network. Countermeasures draw from state and federal safety resources such as the Caltrans Local Roadway Safety Manual and the Federal Highway Administration Proven Safety Countermeasures. The countermeasure
3It is typical to see high daily traffic volumes on our arterial roadways and heavy pedestrian activity in Downtown Burbank. 5 toolbox includes components across various categories and roadway applications. Many of the countermeasures can be deployed in a short timeframe and with relatively little coordination while others require additional study, analysis, or materials procurement. As a result, the SSBAP includes a subset of countermeasures noted as Priority Strategies, which may be included in the initial priority projects without extensive additional study.
Many of these countermeasures have already been deployed across the Cit y, but their safety benefits compound when paired with other countermeasures in a coordinated manner. All identified countermeasures can be implemented faster than that of a standard roadway capital project.
Priority Projects
The SSBAP recommends that countermeasures be first deployed at eleven Priority Project locations, which are roadway segments along the Safety Network with the highest occurrence of serious collisions (Attachment 4). These projects include nine corridors and two lists of additional intersections for priority implementation. The SSBAP identifies the boundaries of the eleven Priority Project l ocations and proposes appropriate countermeasures specific to each location. P roject cutsheets for each of the eleven Priority Projects (Attachment 2, pages 36-59) include contextual roadway information, leading collision factors, and proposed countermeasures based on the roadway context and the pattern of collisions . Unlike implementing single countermeasures at spot locations, the introduction of multiple countermeasures on each corridor provides layers of intervention aimed at separating vulnerable roadway users and managing roadway speeds. Proposed countermeasures are based on several factors, including how much right-of-way is available, existing intersection control, surrounding land use, vehicle volumes and speeds, pedestrian and bicycle activity, collision history , and community input.
Project Implementation
The SSBAP identifies priority locations and countermeasure types that would best address crash trends at these locations. These priority locations and potential countermeasures have been reviewed by the Fire, Police, and Public Works Departments. If the Council approves the SSBAP, staff will develop and finalize the designs for the proposed countermeasures at the eleven Priority Project locations and then determine which countermeasures can be installed based on budget, staff capacity, maintenance considerations, and other administrative factors. These efforts would be led by C ommunity Development/Transportation Planning and Public Works/ Traffic Engineering staff with assistance from on-call consultants and contractors who would design and install the countermeasures.
6 Council has allocated recurring Measure R Local Return funds to pay for these consultant and contractor services as part of the annual budget development and approval process.
Should additional funding be required for certain countermeasures, it will be requested in accordance with the Burbank Municipal Code requirements and/or as part of the annual Capital Improvement Program.
Some countermeasures can be designed and installed quickly. Additional studies f or other countermeasures, such as those involving signal modifications, can be conducted in parallel w ith the design of the “near-term” countermeasures. All c ountermeasures would be installed within the existing right-of-way and do not require new curb, gutter, or street paving, so design and review timelines will be shorter . Further, where available, staff will use on-call contracts and blanket purchase orders using cooperative purchase agreements already in place to streamline design and construction.
Internal Coordination
Given that all roadway projects are interdepartmental efforts, staff convened a taskforce of department leaders to develop the SSBAP. The taskforce consisted of representatives from City Attorney, Fire, Police, Public Information, and Public Works Departments and the Burbank Unified School District. There were three initial meetings of the full taskforce as well as individual breakout meetings to discuss specific portions of the SSBAP draft and potential implications related to plan implementation. The conversations that began in taskforce meetings continued throughout project development. Staff intends to maintain this interdepartmental working group to implement the Plan and evaluate the effectiveness of its implementation.
Transportation Commission Feedback
Staff presented the draft SSBAP to the Transportation Commission on July 23, 2025, providing a review of program goals, methods for plan development, an overview of proposed projects, and policies to guide implementation. Transportation Commissioners discussed Focus Network prioritization, benefits and drawbacks of proposed countermeasures, and public engagement. Commissioners recommended that Council approve the SSBAP.
Next Steps
Adoption of the SSBAP starts an iterative, multi-year process to continually evaluate and respond to roadway safety issues . As locations are identified and mitigations implemented, crash data will continually be monitored and updated in response to the mitigations implemented. The City will regularly add the most recent collision data to the database to analyze where collision trends shift , or new hot spots emerge. A regular update to the SSB AP will be created to outline progress and assess any proposed 7 changes to the Focus Network or Priority Projects. The roadway is a dynamic space, and staff will continually monitor data and assess countermeasure effectiveness with the ultimate goal of reducing the number of crashes that result in fatalities or serious injuries.
COMMUNITY OUTREACH
Community engagement played a key role in developing the SS BAP and will remain essential as the City validates collision data and assesses community sentiment on transportation safety. Building community awareness about both perceived and actual collision trends, and how safety treatments can be utilized to mitigate those trends, is also a critical part of implementation of the SSBAP.
Community engagement took three forms over the course of plan development. First, staff delivered presentations to Council ( January 10, 2023, and July 30, 2024), Transportation Commission ( March 27, 2024, June 26, 2024, and July 23 , 2025) and Senior Board ( August 21, 2023, and September 25, 2024) . Members of the public provided comment in these venues. Second, a Project Website and Digital Survey was developed (available January 2, 2025, through March 31, 2025), which included multiple choice questions about users’ experience on Focus Network corridors, their prioritization of transportation safety over time savings, and demographic questions, as well as a web map where users could add pins where they’ve experienced transportation safety issues.
This yielded 89 survey responses and 232 map pinpoint comments (Attachment 2, pages 77-121). Third, staff hosted a public workshop at the Buena Vista Branch Library on March 12, 2025, that included stations where attendees could identify on a map where they see roadway issues in Burbank, provide feedback on roadway countermeasures they would like to see, and learn more about the SSBAP development. Over 30 participants attended the community workshop.
An important distinction between SSBAP projects and traditional transportation projects is that, while public input is limited before the improvements are installed, continual public input is received after the measures are in place to help staff evaluate their effectiveness.
By adopting the SSBAP, Council is endorsing in advance the “menu” of countermeasures that City staff may use in a variety of locations based on crash patterns. This also allows staff the discretion to implement these measures along the Priority Project locations using professional judgment and engineering practice. It should be noted that the “quick -build” nature of the improvements, using materials like paint, signs, bollards, and signal programming means that specific countermeasures once installed can be re- worked if issues arise after installation. They can also be adjusted based on ongoing community feedback to adjust as needed.
8 ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The SSBAP has been determined to be exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CEQA Guidelines § 15262 states that a project involving only feasibility or planning studies for possible future actions which the agency, board, or commission has not approved, adopted, or funded does not require the preparation of an environmental impact report or negative declaration but does require consideration of environmental factors. Additionally, if the SSBAP is approved, i ndividual projects proposed under the SSBAP will be fully analyzed under CEQA to identify any potential environmental impacts prior to the final decision to approve and install the project. It is expected that most of the proposed Countermeasure improvements on the priority project corridors will likely be exempt from CEQA in accordance with § 15301(c) (Existing Facilities) of the State CEQA Guidelines to improve pedestrian, bicyclist, and motorist safety. All elements of the Countermeasure toolbox are elements that improve roadway safety and do not widen existing roadway facilities, do not involve expansion of an existing use of those roadways, do not create additional automobile lanes, and do not incorporate conditions that can increase Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). Instead, the proposed countermeasures include improvements such as installation of traffic signs, roadway striping, and traffic signal modifications built within the existing public right-of-way.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact to adopt the SSBAP. Council has allocated recurring annual funding in the amount of $700,000 to design and implement improvements on the Priority Project Locations allocated from Measure R Local Return ( Fund 107 CD33A.70002.0000). Once projects are implemented, staff will dedicate a portion of this recurring funding to regular ongoing maintenance of the improvements . Further, by adopting the Safer Streets Burbank Action Plan, the City will be eligible for additional grant-funding through federal and state agencies , for which a Vision Zero plan is a prerequisite.
CONCLUSION
The Safer Streets Burbank Action Plan outlines the principles, methodologies, and systems aimed at addressing roadway safety along the highest priority road segments as quickly as possible. The Plan includes a Focus Network where the City should first prioritize appropriate roadway safety improvements , a toolbox of countermeasures to address crash trends, and an ongoing process of evaluation and analysis to respond to road safety concerns iteratively . In developing the Plan, s taff engaged various City departments, collected feedback from community members , and incorporated direction from Council to develop a Plan that aims to reduce colli sions resulting in severe injuries and fatalities to zero by 2035. If approved by Council, staff will begin designing and 9 implementing projects on the Priority Project Locations and will report annually on program outcomes to the Transportation Commission.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment 1 – Resolution
Attachment 2 – Safer Streets Burbank Action Plan
Attachment 3 – Safer Streets Burbank Action Plan Focus Network Attachment 4 – Safer Streets Burbank Action Plan Priority Project Corridors