Safe Streets
Long Beach
Action Plan
Update
Mobility, Ports & Infrastructure
Committee
September 22, 2026
2 2
Safe Streets Long Beach/Vision Zero Plan (2020)
✓ Reframe Vision Zero
✓ Progress Since 2020
✓ Show our Structure
✓ Workforce Review
✓ Staffing Update
✓ Chart the Update
✓ Next Steps
3 Safe Streets Long Beach
Plan finalized in July 2020
Part of a global Vision Zero movement • Started in Sweden in 1990s • More than 45 U.S. cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Seattle, San Francisco,
etc.
Sets a Vision Zero target year of 2026 • Goal to reduce traffic fatalities or serious roadway injuries to zero
Safe Systems Philosophy • Traffic deaths are preventable – not
inevitable
• No loss of life due to traffic collisions is
acceptable.
• No one should die because of simple
human error
4 Reframing Safe Streets Long Beach
Vision Zero is a direction, not a deadline
What it is not: • A literal promise that zero deaths will occur by a fixed calendar date
• A single program or project — it's a citywide
philosophy
• Something Public Works can achieve alone
What it is: • A goal and philosophy promoting a safety
culture
• A prioritization framework that guides how we
design streets and where we invest first
• A shared responsibility across engineering,
enforcement, education, and residents
5 Reframing Safe Streets Long Beach
We need realistic progress going
forward
• The original plan set an ambitious 2026
target: zero traffic deaths and serious
injuries. Recent national and local trends
make clear that pace was not realistic and
an updated plan needs to include
pragmatic goals and collaborative actions
• Long Beach: 45 traffic fatalities vs 36
homicides in 2022. The highest number of
traffic fatalities was seen in 2025
• The 2026 data is still partial
• The takeaway is the same: our targets and
timelines need to reflect reality
0 10
20 30
40 50
60 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026
Fatal Crashes in the City of Long Beach 2018-2026
Fatal Crashes on City Streets
6 Safe Streets Long Beach Plan
Keystone Actions
1. Dedicate Resources to traffic safety
2. Lower vehicle speeds
3. Implement street design standards
4. Expand multimodal safety education campaign
5. Collect better data to make better decisions
6. Examine City processes and forge partnerships
to support safety
7. Prioritize road safety investments
7 Progress from 2020 to 2023
What we’ve done well • $27.8M awarded for 4 Caltrans Active Transportation Grants (Action 1)
• Over $2 million in Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) grants for Police and Health & Human Services for drug-
impaired driving, distracted driving, and pedestrian
and bicyclist safety education (Action 1)
• 135 streets with lowered speed limits (Action 2) • 2.3 miles of concrete curb-separated bike lanes constructed (Action 3)
• Mobility Toolkit: comprehensive list of best practice roadway treatments to address various
transportation challenges (Action 3)
• Yard Sign Program – Safe Drivers Make Better
Neighbors (Action 4)
• 415 Safe Streets yard signs distributed (Action 4)
8 Progress Since 2023
What we’ve done well • Secured $17.9M Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds (Action 1)
• 101 additional streets approved for lower speed limits (Action 2)
• Completed key reports and executed 5-year contract
for the Speed Safety System program (Action 2)
• 3.1 miles of concrete curb-separated bike lane miles
constructed (Action 3)
• Installed 250+ Continental Crosswalks (Action 3) • Installed 37 Left-turn Signal Phasing (Action 3) • Installed 115+ RRFB’s (Action 3) • Drafting Complete Streets Design Guide (Action 3) • Updating the City’s High-Injury Network (Action 5) • Launched e-scooter pilot on beach bike path (Action 5) 9 Progress Since 2020 (Continued)
Signature Capital Projects Delivered • South Street Traffic Calming & Bikeway Project • Spring Street Traffic Calming Project • Market Street Improvements Project • Artesia Great Boulevard project • Carson Complete Street Project • Loynes Drive Complete Street Project • Santa Fe Avenue Synchronization Project Signature Capital Projects Underway • Studebaker Road Transformation Project • Anaheim Street Major Corridor Improvements Project • Orange Avenue Backbone Project • Shoreline Drive Realignment Project • Pacific Avenue Corridor Improvements Project • Downtown Walkable Corners Project • Clark Avenue Complete Streets Projects • Del Amo Boulevard Complete Streets Projects • 2 nd Street Bridge Deck Replacement Project
• HSIP Traffic Signal Upgrade Projects
10 Progress Since 2020 (Continued)
Where we can improve
• Add more dedicated resources for Vision Zero. This was included and approved within the FY27 budget! • Fatalities are trending the wrong way
• Deaths rose from 30 (2019) to 45 (2022) to 56 (2025)
• Data infrastructure is incomplete
• Improve cross-department collision database, before/after evaluation metrics, and create public Vision Zero dashboard
• State tools are unavailable
• Until late 2023, automated speed enforcement remained illegal in California, limiting one of the plan's most effective proposed tools
• Automated Speed Enforcement on State Highways
• SB 1279, if approved, will allow two additional speed safety systems on PCH. State highways have been restricted under AB 645.
• Governance was under-resourced
• Form a task force made up of impacted City departments, Long Beach Transit, Long Beach Unified School District and community members with mobility or urban planning expertise. • Form a technical advisory committee comprised of representatives from Community Development, Economic Development, Fire, Police, Health and Human Services, Harbor, and Public Works to provide expert advice.
11 New Structure in FY27
A standalone division focused on traffic safety delivery, data, and programs To sustain Vision Zero implementation, traffic safety functions are being reorganized out of the Engineering Bureau (ENB) into a new, dedicated Transportation Services Bureau (TSB) Traffic safety is currently one
responsibility among many
Engineering Bureau priorities.
12 New Structure in FY27
• A central focus of the Department’s FY 27 budget is advancing traffic safety • A key component is the establishment of a new Traffic Safety Division in the TSB o Focused on neighborhood traffic calming
o Quick-build safety improvements
o Vision Zero initiatives
o Administration of the City’s Speed Safety System
• Strategic Realignment intended to:
o Centralize core services
o Improve coordination and communication
o Bridge engineering and operations staff
o Strengthen the Department’s ability to meet transportation and traffic safety needs citywide o Establish consistent and equitable parking policies across neighborhoods o Build a staffing structure sized to sustain both the Safe Streets Action plan update and long-term delivery o Enhance accountability
13 Workforce Review Nearing Completion
• A comprehensive workforce review of the Engineering Bureau and Transportation Services Bureau was initiated by Ernst & Young in summer 2026 to examine current and proposed staffing structure, levels, roles, operating models, capacity, training, and changes to determine if the bureaus are well-positioned to meet its future goals. • The workforce review includes:
o Interviews with key staff and managers
o Draft report (provided in early September 2026)
o Leadership vs. staff perspectives
o Current State Analysis
o Recommendations and actionable roadmap
o Quick wins, medium-term goals, long-term initiatives to meet strategic goals 14 Staffing Update - Key Hires Now Underway
Traffic Safety Officer (TSO)
NEW POSITION
Oversees Speed Safety System and
Neighborhood Services.
City Traffic Engineer
ACTIVE RECRUITMENT
Recruitment for City Traffic Engineer is in
the interview stage, with a hiring decision
expected to follow shortly.
Filling these two leadership roles directly addresses the staffing gap identified in Keystone Action #1 8 We are in the process of onboarding a new
Traffic Safety Officer in mid-November 2026.
Oversees traffic management, intelligent
transportation systems, and design.
15 Timeline to an Updated Action Plan
Five milestones — after finalizing workforce review, onboarding TSO and City Traffic Engineer, and procuring a consultant
1 Fall 2026
Onboard Consultant
Support, Data
Analysis &
Evaluation
2 Spring 2027
Stakeholder & InterAgency
Coordination
3 Summer/ Fall 2027
Public Engagement
& Outreach
4 Late 2027
Plan Refinement
5 2028
Adopt Update
10 16
Thank You!