CITY OF SAN MATEO
CITY OF SAN MATEO
Agenda Report
City Hall
330 W. 20th Avenue
San Mateo CA 94403
www.cityofsanmateo.org
Agenda Number: 2 Section Name: {{section.name}} Account Number: 10-4661 File ID: {{item.tracking_number}} TO: City Council
FROM: Alex Khojikian, City Manager
PREPARED BY: Public Works Department
MEETING DATE: April 15, 2024
SUBJECT:
Draft Local Roadway Safety Plan
RECOMMENDATION:
Receive a presentation on the draft Local Roadway Safety Plan and provide feedback.
BACKGROUND:
In August 2020, staff from the Police and Public Works Departments introduced the topic of addressing traffic safety with a data-driven approach to City Council, and shared preliminary data correlating staff’s efforts on neighborhood Traffic Action Plans to collision trends. Council supported applying funds and concentrating efforts where they would yield the greatest safety results. Staff brought additional data to Council in November 2020, which identified the challenges with vehicle-to- pedestrian collisions in the City. In June 2021, more detailed information regarding collision trends was presented, and Council directed staff to continue pursuing traffic safety project prioritization through completion of a Local Roadway Safety Plan (LRSP).
The City’s Local Roadway Safety Plan creates a data-driven and community-informed decision-making framework that will work toward the goal of eliminating fatal and severe injury collisions on local roadways. The LRSP uses historical collision data and an understanding of local context, while factoring in equity priority communities, to assess existing roadway safety conditions in San Mateo, identifies areas for improvement, and provides recommended actions and an implementation plan that will help create a Safe System (an approach to roadway safety adopted by the United States Department of Transportation and Caltrans) and culture of roadway safety in the City of San Mateo. Additionally, having an approved LRSP qualifies the City for certain types of grant funding, such as the Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and Safe Streets for All (SS4A) grant programs.
The LRSP is organized into five sections:
1.Vision, Mission, and Goals – Establishes a larger vision for transportation safety in San Mateo and sets goals for how to get there.
2.Plan Development Process – Details the collaborative data-driven and community-informed planning process.
3.Existing Safety Conditions – Provides an analysis of collisions in San Mateo.
4.Emphasis Areas, Countermeasures, and Strategies – Details the emphasis areas and lists proven countermeasures and strategies that can improve roadway safety.
5.Recommendations, Actions, and Implementation – Proposes short- and long-term projects and sets a city-wide strategy for assessing progress toward established goals.
The LRSP includes recommended systemic treatments to generally improve roadway safety in the City. Following the presentation, staff will request feedback from Council on how to prioritize implementation of the proposed systemic
CITY OF SAN MATEO
treatments (improvements that can be made proactively at locations that do not have collision data trends but have similar characteristics to locations that do) with a focus on their impact city-wide, rather than any specific location.
Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission Feedback
Staff gave an informational presentation to the Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission (SIC) in July 2023 on initial LRSP development efforts, including outlining collision analysis findings, the community outreach plan, and project timeline. Feedback provided during that meeting included ensuring project costs are transparent within the plan and a recommendation to include quick-build projects.
In March 2024, staff went back to SIC and presented the draft LRSP including information about recommended site- specific and systemic treatments, noted how they relate to the feedback on safety concerns received during community outreach, and requested feedback specifically regarding the proposed systemic treatments. The Commission generally supported the proposed systemic treatments and recommended consideration for exclusive pedestrian phasing at some signalized intersections. The Commission noted a lack of representation from community members with mobility challenges and requested the Project Development Team be expanded to include additional viewpoints. Lastly, programmatic and informational recommendations were requested to be incorporated that pertained to increased enforcement for vehicles parked in crosswalks as well as a recommendation for roadway users to wear high-visibility clothing. All feedback has been noted and incorporated where appropriate into the draft LRSP.
Feedback and Next Steps
The project team will present the draft LRSP, including information about how this plan relates to a future Vision Zero Plan.
Staff will share information about the proposed systemic safety improvements and solicit feedback from Council on how to prioritize their implementation on a city-wide basis.
Following the meeting, the project team will incorporate Council feedback and bring the Local Roadway Safety Plan for adoption thereafter, tentatively in May.
BUDGET IMPACT:
There are no budget impacts for receiving an informational presentation about the Local Roadway Safety Plan. The project is funded through Caltrans grant funds, matching funds from the Citywide Traffic Calming project (466600) and supplementing funds from the Neighborhood Traffic Management project (462226).
ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION:
This informational update is not a project subject to CEQA, because it is an organizational or administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect physical changes in the environment. (CEQA Guidelines Section 15378(b)(5).)
NOTICE PROVIDED
All meeting noticing requirements were met.
ATTACHMENTS
Att 1 – Draft Local Roadway Safety Plan
Att 2 – July 12, 2023 and March 13, 2024 Sustainability and Infrastructure Commission Agenda Reports
STAFF CONTACT
Bethany Lopez, Senior Engineer
[email protected]
(650) 522-7313