DATE: February 26, 2025
TO: City Council Infrastructure and Airport Committee
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT: Santa Clara Street Traffic Calming Project No. 05303
RECOMMENDATION
That the City Council Infrastructure and Airport Committee (CCIAC) reviews and provides feedback on the Santa Clara Street Traffic Calming Project.
SUMMARY
The purpose of the Santa Clara Street Traffic Calming Project (Project) is to improve the safety of Santa Clara Street between West A Street and Winton Avenue by reducing vehicle speeds and enhancing bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure. The Project will include both short-term striping improvements to bike lanes and pedestrian crossings, and long-term enhancements to roadway striping updates and intersection improvements. On February 6, 2025 back on safety challenges and potential improvements on Santa Clara Street. Staff are seeking feedback on the proposed approach to enhance the safety and livability of Santa Clara Street.
BACKGROUND
The Project was initiated in FY22 in response to community concerns regarding speeding on Santa Clara Street and vehicles not stopping at pedestrian crossings, especially at El Dorado Avenue. City Council allocated funding and directed staff to conduct a traffic calming study between West A Street and Winton Avenue on Santa Clara Street to reduce overall vehicle speeds and improve transportation safety for all road users.
The segment of Santa Clara Street from West A Street to Winton Avenue spans 0.7 miles. This is a two-lane roadway for the most part and serves mostly single-family homes and a government institution. There are existing Class II bike lanes on Santa Clara Street between West A Street and Winton Avenue. However, there is no striping separating the bike lane and on-street parking, which have felt unsafe and uncomfortable for bicyclists. Based on the City’s Bicycle and Pedestrian Master Plan (2020), Class IV is recommended for Santa Clara Street between West A Street and West Harder Road.
Based on the traffic data collected in June 2024, Santa Clara Street carries an Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of approximately 15,000 vehicles per day. Notably, approximately 6,000 of these vehicles travel through the study area and do not have a destination on the street or in the adjacent neighborhood. The posted speed limit is 25 mph, but 15% of drivers are traveling at 36 mph or higher. The 5-year collision records from 2018 to 2023 reveal that there have been 12 injury collisions within the Santa Clara Corridor including 2 fatal collisions and 1 severe injury collision. One of the fatal collisions occurred between a bicyclist and a motorist colliding while the other fatal collision involved a motorist and a fixed object. The speed and collision data indicate the need for safety improvements for Santa Clara Street to accommodate safe travel for all road users including motorists, bicyclists, pedestrians, and transit riders.
DISCUSSION
On February 6, 2025, the City conducted an open house to gather community input regarding existing traffic safety concerns and potential improvements. The potential safety improvements presented to the public included buffered and separated bike lanes and high-visibility crosswalks in the short term and lane reconfigurations and intersection improvements in the long term. The feedback from the meeting included:
Speeding vehicles make it difficult for residents to exit driveways and minor streets.
Crossing Santa Clara Street is challenging due to the speed of vehicles. Additional safety enhancements, such as flashing beacons received strong support.
The street is dark at night, increasing safety concerns. Additional streetlights were requested on both Santa Clara St and in the neighborhood.
There have been many collisions due to speeding and vehicles have crashed into parked vehicles and houses, especially at houses on the corners of cross streets. Several participants provided stories of vehicles crashing through their fences.
Many of the vehicles traveling on Santa Clara Street are through traffic trying to avoid the I-880 freeway. Participants at the meeting discussed the significant uptick in volumes and safety challenges when there is congestion or a collision on I-880 and also describe common occurrences of unsafe U-turn behaviors from these vehicles.
Many participants requested additional traffic control, such as stop signs or traffic signals at cross streets.
Based on the public feedback, the staff will evaluate and prioritize options for short- and long-term improvements to Santa Clara Street:
Short-Term Improvements:
The short-term improvements will focus on maintenance improvements, short-term striping upgrades, and evaluation of traffic control. Staff are pursuing maintenance issues such as streetlights needing new bulbs and missing signage. These issues will be addressed by maintenance staff.
Stripping upgrades include safety improvements to the existing bike lanes and pedestrian crosswalks. The potential bike lane improvements include a separation between on-street parking and bike lanes, bike buffers (where feasible), and green thermoplastic striping to increase the visibility of bicyclists. The crosswalks on Santa Clara Street at Elmwood Lane and Redbud Lane previously existed but are currently missing; these locations will be restored with high-visibility crosswalks.
Finally, staff will evaluate the potential for additional traffic control. Many meeting participants requested additional stop signs or signals. While stop signs are relatively low cost to implement, staff have previously evaluated this option and determined that the crossings on Santa Clara Street do not meet warrants established by national and state guidance documents. However, the warrant process was recently updated to better align with safety goals and staff will evaluate the various crossings to determine if any of the crossings are appropriate for stop signs.
Long-term Improvements:
The long-term improvements will focus on comprehensive lane reconfigurations and intersection upgrades to reduce overall speeds and right-of-way conflicts and further increase pedestrian and bicycle visibility. Staff anticipate that the street will be repaved in approximately 5 years, at which point a more comprehensive update can be made. Potential lane reconfigurations include a reduction in the number and width of the lanes to discourage speeding and potential reduction in the number of lanes that bring vehicles from A Street and Winton Avenue onto Santa Clara Street to discourage its use for through traffic. This could also include the installation of some raised median segments to limit turns and U-turns in areas that were not designed for these movements.
Staff will also evaluate potential changes to intersection controls. Staff have already pursued a grant that would install flashing beacons and curb extensions at two locations on Santa Clara Street, likely to be Ocie Way and El Dorado Avenue, as well as at other locations in the City. Staff will also evaluate the potential of traffic circles or traffic signals. Staff anticipate that traffic signals will not meet warrants from national and state guidance, but traffic circles may be possible at some intersections. Traffic circles would help slow traffic, while allowing residents to exit side streets more easily. However, there could be significant cost and staff will need to carefully evaluate the feasibility of this option.
ECONOMIC IMPACT
City residents who live in the surrounding neighborhood and frequent travelers on Santa Clara Street will benefit from safe transportation infrastructure and be encouraged to walk or bike on Santa Clara Street. It is also expected that the likelihood of collisions will be reduced through the Santa Clara Traffic Calming Project.
FISCAL IMPACT
This item has no impact on the General Fund. The Santa Clara Street Traffic Calming Project 05313 is funded by Measure BB (Pedestrian and Bicycle) - Fund 213.
STRATEGIC ROADMAP
This agenda item supports Strategic Priority of Invest in Infrastructure.
Specifically, this item relates to the implementation of the following project:
Project N1: Continue to implement major corridor traffic calming initiatives.
SUSTAINABILITY FEATURES
This project will implement safety improvements to benefit pedestrian and bicycle modes of travel, which may facilitate increased use of these modes of transportation and reduce reliance on single-occupant vehicles and vehicle miles traveled.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public outreach for this project was conducted through an in-person open house on February 6, 2025. Approximately 900 mailers and open house posters in both English and Spanish were sent out and installed throughout the Santa Clara Street project corridor and in the surrounding neighborhood. Approximately 30 area residents attended the meeting.
NEXT STEPS
After receiving feedback and direction from the Committee, staff will update the proposed approach and return to the public to review proposed improvements and feasibility analysis, including a plan for phasing the work over time. Construction for short-term improvements is tentatively planned to begin in the Summer of 2026.
Prepared by: Jade Kim, Assistant Transportation Engineer Hugh Louch, Deputy Public Works Director - Transportation Recommended by: Alex Ameri, Director of Public Works Approved by:
_____________________________________
Dr. Ana M. Alvarez, City Manager
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