City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: June 10, 2025
Agenda Item: 7.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Anuj Gupta, Director of Transportation, Mobility (DOT) Subject: Study Session to review draft analysis, findings, and recommendations of the Santa Monica Blvd Safety Study, funded by a Caltrans Sustainable Transportation Planning grant.
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a finding that this study session is not a “project” subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA); and
2. Receive, discuss, and provide direction regarding the initial findings and concept level recommendations for the Santa Monica Boulevard Safety Study project.
Summary
Santa Monica’s Department of Transportation (DOT) continues to advance transportation safety improvements to help achieve the City’s priority of ensuring Clean Streets and Safe Neighborhoods, and the City Council’s Vision Zero commitment to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries caused by traffic collisions. As a result of prior studies such as the Vision Zero Action Plan and the Local Roadway Safety Plan, Santa Monica Boulevard emerged as a high priority corridor that has seen severe trafficrelated injuries and one fatality over the past ten years. To further study this corridor, staff secured a California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) Sustainable Communities planning grant, which provides funding for transportation and land use planning projects to reduce transportation-related greenhouse gas emissions and projects that enhance safe use of roadways.
The Santa Monica Boulevard Safety Study project began in October 2024, engaging stakeholders and residents on how to improve safety along this corridor. At the same 2 of 23
time, City staff have been working with a consultant team to analyze the previous ten years of crash data along the corridor, and pairing crash trends with community feedback to establish a set of safety and transit recommendations to improve Santa Monica Boulevard from Ocean Avenue to Centinela Boulevard (the eastern city limit).
The study session and staff presentation serve to generate a rich discussion on the most recent findings and initial recommendations for this project. Council feedback and direction from this study session will be incorporated into the draft recommendations, carried forward through a community open house event in August 2025, and ultimately will inform the final Santa Monica Boulevard Safety Plan that will be presented to City Council for adoption in February/March of 2026. Once adopted, City staff will seek grant funding to design and construct the improvements identified in this study.
Background
On February 23, 2016, City Council adopted the Pedestrian Action Plan, which included the Vision Zero commitment to eliminate fatalities and serious injuries caused by traffic collisions on Santa Monica roadways (Attachment A). In 2017, the City analyzed eleven years of crash data (2006 to 2016) to create a “Priority Network” (representing the 10% of City streets that account for 50% of severe and fatal crashes) to focus the City’s future roadway safety enhancements. In 2022, the City renewed its analysis by completing the Local Roadway Safety Plan (LRSP), which analyzed the most recently available crash data (2015 to 2019) to further prioritize safety improvements. These efforts enabled the City to receive state and regional grant funding for numerous roadway design improvements targeted at addressing specific roadway challenges identified in data, such as the Wilshire Boulevard Safety Study and Improvement projects, the East Pico Safety Study and tactical improvements, and smaller interventions like crosswalk modernization, daylighting efforts, rectangular rapid flashing beacons (RRFBs), and all-way stop implementation.
Both the 2017 Vision Zero analysis and the 2022 LRSP identified Santa Monica Boulevard as a priority corridor that experienced 8 fatal or severe injury crashes in the 2017 analysis, and 206 total crashes resulting in 1 fatality and 9 severe injuries in the LRSP analysis (Attachment B). The LRSP also identified key intersections along Santa Monica Boulevard with notable crash histories, including:
• 6th Street
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• 15th Street
• 16th Street
• 18th Street
• 20th Street
• 26th Street
On March 9, 2023, staff applied to Caltrans for the Santa Monica Boulevard Safety Enhancement Study to evaluate collisions and identify targeted safety enhancements along the Santa Monica Boulevard corridor. The application was prepared based on the priorities of the City Council’s adopted plans and programs. On August 31, 2023, the City was awarded $522,327 in grant funds, and on November 14, 2023, the Council adopted a resolution to accept the awarded Sustainable Transportation Planning Grant with a required $67,673 in matching funds from Transportation Impact Fee (TIF) revenues, for a total project cost of $590,000 (Attachment C).
Discussion
The goals of the Santa Monica Boulevard Safety Study are to:
1. Gather existing conditions information to understand the context of the corridor;
2. Identify targeted safety enhancements through a detailed and data-driven process;
3. Gather community feedback through a robust public outreach process;
4. Encourage safe and equitable access to destinations, businesses, and transit along Santa Monica Boulevard; and
5. Identify preferred short-term and long-term recommendations to improve safety for all roadway users.
To date, the Santa Monica Boulevard Safety Study has conducted in-depth data analysis and a robust community engagement process to better understand crash patterns, safety concerns, and the community’s lived experiences/observations on Santa Monica Boulevard. Based on this process, the project team has identified potential safety countermeasures and roadway enhancements to help address identified challenges. Detailed in this Staff Report are a corridor overview, initial data analysis findings, summary of feedback received from the community, and a summary of draft recommendations that would be included in the final Santa Monica Boulevard Safety 4 of 23
Plan. Recommended enhancements would better connect the corridor to the adjoining neighborhoods, major destinations and job centers, while improving safety for people walking, cycling, driving, and taking transit.
Santa Monica Boulevard, Then and Now
Known as “America’s Main Street,” Route 66 spans more than 2,400 miles throughout eight states, connecting Chicago to Santa Monica. It was one of the United States' first continuous stretches of paved highway and served as a major path for those who migrated west. Route 66 was commissioned on November 11, 1926, and on January 1, 1936, Santa Monica Boulevard became a part of Route 66 which currently terminates at the intersection of Lincoln and Olympic Boulevards. It was decommissioned as a federal highway in 1985 following the creation of the Interstate Highway System. Today, Santa Monica Boulevard is one of the city’s principal east-west arterial roads with an abundance of connections to transit, jobs, housing, services, and destinations along this active and developed corridor.
Study Area
The safety study examines the full 2.4-mile extent of Santa Monica Boulevard within the city limits, from Ocean Avenue to Centinela Avenue. Santa Monica Boulevard is a critical street that provides multimodal access to community destinations such as:
• Santa Monica Main Library
• Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center
• McKinley Elementary School
• Nearby public parks including Memorial Park, Reed Park, and Douglas Park • High density residential neighborhoods (Mid-City and Downtown Santa Monica) • Large job centers such as Downtown Santa Monica, Santa Monica UCLA Medical Center, and Providence Saint John’s Health Center • Retail automobile sales and service companies
In 2022, the City adopted the 2021 – 2029 Housing Element that identified approximately 340 suitable sites as having a high potential for use as future housing.
More than 100 of the identified sites are located within one block of Santa Monica Boulevard. The corridor includes key transit lines for both Big Blue Bus and Metro, including Big Blue Bus Routes 1 and Rapid 10, and one Los Angeles Metro route that runs throughout the boulevard (Line 4). These transit routes connect residents and 5 of 23
workers to broader regional destinations such as UCLA, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Downtown Los Angeles, and points in between.
The City’s Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE) of the General Plan distinctly categorized Santa Monica Boulevard into a few key segments. • Ocean Avenue to Lincoln Boulevard includes the busy Downtown neighborhood with many shopping opportunities as well as a transit plaza for many local bus lines.
• Lincoln Boulevard to 20th Street has been Santa Monica’s “auto row” and remains dedicated to automobile sales and service. The LUCE includes guidelines for auto dealerships to redevelop in a format that more efficiently utilizes the site and creates a cohesive and visually attractive street front. • 20th Street to Cloverfield is surrounded primarily by Providence Saint John’s Health Center and associated medical offices and facilities. Providence Saint John’s Health Center is currently in the process of redesigning significant portions of the campus that could result in increased traffic and pedestrian volumes, and changes in points of ingress/egress on Santa Monica Boulevard. • The eastern end of Santa Monica Boulevard from Cloverfield Boulevard to Centinela Avenue is comprised of small businesses primarily served by an autobased clientele but is envisioned as evolving into a vibrant pedestrian and transit corridor with a mix of local and regional-serving retail offerings and services.
The LUCE classifies Santa Monica Boulevard as a principal arterial roadway for cars and transit. The study area has 20 signalized intersections (19 signalized intersections in City of Santa Monica and one signalized intersection in City of Los Angeles), 14 twoway stop-controlled intersections, and 21 alleys. The majority of Santa Monica Boulevard has four travel lanes, two in each direction, with intermittent turn lanes and on-street metered parking. Like many streets in Santa Monica, the roadway geometry varies throughout the corridor, with a narrow profile and asymmetrical lane conditions in the Downtown area, a wider profile with some on-street parking from Lincoln Avenue to 19th Street, and a very wide profile from 26th Street to Centinela Avenue (see Table 1).
Block spacing along the corridor averages about 320 feet between intersections.
Concrete sidewalks are provided on both sides of the street throughout the study area. 6 of 23
The speed limit between Ocean Avenue and Lincoln Boulevard is 25 mph and between Lincoln Avenue and Centinela Avenue it is 30 mph. However, many drivers do not abide by speed limits and travel at higher speeds as shown in Table 2.
Table 1- Santa Monica Boulevard Street Profile
Segment From To Number of
Travel Lanes
Width (in feet)
1 Ocean Avenue 5
th St. 3 42’ – 0”
2 5
thStreet Lincoln
Boulevard.
3 58’ – 0”
3 Lincoln
Boulevard.
26th St. 4 63’ – 0”
4 26thStreet Harvard St. 4 68’ – 0”
5 Harvard St. Centinela
Avenue
4 76’ – 6”
Figure 1 - Santa Monica Boulevard Street Widths
Table 2 - Speed Limits vs. 85th Percentile Speeds
Santa Monica Boulevard
Segments
Speed Limits 85th Percentile
Speeds
Ocean Avenue to Lincoln
Boulevard
25 mph 25 mph – 29 mph
Lincoln Boulevard to Cloverfield
Boulevard
30 mph 30 mph – 34 mph
Cloverfield Boulevard to
Centinela Avenue
30 mph 35 mph – 49 mph
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Safety Analysis Findings
In winter 2024/2025, the project team conducted a comprehensive safety analysis of Santa Monica Boulevard focused on the last 10 years of crash data and recent transit data (Attachment D). During 2015-2024, 435 injury crashes and 401 Property Damage Only (PDO) crashes—crashes in which no one is injured, but damage occurs to vehicles or other property—were recorded along the study corridor. In the safety analysis, PDO crashes are included in the maps but are excluded from the analysis aiming at identifying specific patterns of injury crashes because there is a significant difference between PDO and injury crash attributes. Figure 2 illustrates the number of crashes and their distribution by injury severity. Notably, visible injuries and complaints of pain account for 48% of the total, while severe injuries and fatalities account for the remaining 3.7%.
Figure 2 – Distribution of Severity for all Crashes
Who is involved in crashes?
The two most common age groups for people involved in crashes are between 26–35 and 36–45, accounting for 24% and 17% of those involved, respectively. Moreover, seniors aged 66-75 and 76+ make up 23% of all pedestrians involved in injury crashes, a higher proportion than the 13% of drivers in these two senior age groups.
Crash modes are categorized as such: a motor vehicle crash involves only automobiles, a pedestrian crash involves a pedestrian and a motor vehicle, and a bicycle crash involves a bicyclist and a motor vehicle. Figure 3 shows the distribution of crash modes by injury level (Fatal/Serious Injury includes one fatality during the period of analysis). 8 of 23
Nearly 81% of crashes involve only motor vehicles. However, when examining fatal and serious injury crashes, motor vehicle crashes account for 45%. Pedestrians are overrepresented in serious injury crashes, making up 29% of such incidents compared to 11% in all crashes. Bicycle and scooter crashes are also overrepresented in serious injury crashes (26%) compared to all crashes (8.4%).
Figure 3 - Crashes by Mode
Where are crashes happening?
In the past ten years, Santa Monica Boulevard has seen crashes throughout the corridor. The analysis found that 83% of all crashes occur at intersections, while the remaining 17% occur at midblock locations. Crashes also occur most frequently at signalized intersections, but injury severity is highest at unsignalized intersections where the side streets are stop-sign controlled (see Figure 4). Although some intersections have a higher total number of crashes (Figure 5), other intersections have a higher number of injury crashes (Figure 6). In the past 10 years, one fatality along the corridor has occurred, at the intersection of 18th Street.
Figure 4 - Injury Level by Type of Location
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Figure 5 - Heat Map of All Crashes
Figure 6 - Heat Map of Injury Crashes
What are common crash types?
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The safety analysis looked at the primary collision factors contributing to crashes as determined by investigating officers at a crash scene. At intersections, the most significant primary collision factor for injury crashes is failure to yield to an automobile’s right-of-way. In examining trends for right-of-way violations, the following preceding movements resulted in collisions:
• Vehicle-Vehicle: The most common scenario involves two vehicles proceeding straight. These movements are typical for broadside crashes. Other common scenarios include a vehicle proceeding straight colliding with a vehicle making a left turn, vehicle proceeding straight into a stopped vehicle. • Vehicle-Pedestrian: The dominant movement preceding the crash is a vehicle making a left turn into a pedestrian crossing in a crosswalk at an intersection. • Vehicle Bicyclists: The most common motor vehicle movement involved in these crashes was making a right turn, making a left turn, and proceeding straight, while the bicycle was proceeding straight in all instances.
Unsafe speed is a collision factor second only to right-of-way violations. Among the 31 serious injury crashes, 3% were associated with speeding, a lower proportion compared to minor injury crashes and property damage only. This trend is atypical, as most crash analyses show a positive correlation between speed and injury severity. Out of the 836 crashes analyzed, only 48 (5%) were related to impairment, a small factor of the overall crashes. Similarly, “inattention” (distracted driving) is a small factor resulting in crashes on Santa Monica Boulevard. At intersections, the most significant primary collision factor for injury crashes is failure to yield to an automobile’s right of way. For injury crashes occurring at midblock locations, improper turning and unsafe speeds are the most common primary collision factors.
Given the safety analysis’ focus of vulnerable road users and severe injury crashes, the analysis includes a list of intersections organized by weighted crash severity. This weighting exercise serves as a reference for selecting safety improvements at intersections but is not the sole determining factor since some intersections may have more desirable destinations, greater community feedback, or opportunities to actualize roadway improvements.
Community Engagement and Interdepartmental Coordination 11 of 23
Community engagement for the Safety Study kicked off last October with an event at the Santa Monica Main Library called “Light Up the Night.” This community touchpoint was coordinated with support from library staff and in tandem with the library’s trick or treat event which drew participants from throughout Santa Monica. The event used two interactive “beacons” where community members could discuss priorities for the study and leave comments on a map. Participants were asked, “what would you like to see more of along Santa Monica Boulevard?” and were encouraged to choose one of four improvement categories: Safer Crossings, Safer Vehicle Movements, Improved Sidewalks, or Something Else. During a three-week period, 208 comments were placed on the beacons and Safer Vehicle Movements was the most popular improvement, followed by Safer Crossings. Lincoln Boulevard, Ocean Avenue, and 3rd Street were the most mentioned cross-streets on the map, likely due to the event taking place in Downtown. A full summary can be found in Attachment E.
The second community touchpoint included a walking audit of Santa Monica Boulevard.
Hosted in tandem with Providence Saint John’s Health Center, the audit invited 20 community members to observe and document behaviors of people using Santa Monica Boulevard. The major feedback included the need to Make Crossing Safer though the introduction of refuge islands and new or upgraded crosswalks, Improve Signal Timing for Pedestrians though leading pedestrian intervals, Further Separate Cars from Pedestrians through buffer spaces, and Design for Slower Vehicle Speeds using signage or narrowing of travel lanes. A full summary can be found in Attachment F.
The third major engagement tool utilized included an online interactive map where community members could provide location-specific comments on safety issues they experienced on Santa Monica Boulevard. Over 350 comments were received from October 2024 to April 2025, with the top three categories being Difficult Crossings, followed by Something Else, which included many comments about cleanliness, bicycle facilities, and consideration for bus only lanes, and Speeding as a concern on Santa Monica Boulevard.
On May 7, 2025, the project team presented an update to the City’s Planning Commission and received feedback on the progress of the safety study. Commission members expressed a desire to prioritize improving crossing conditions and pedestrian safety along the corridor, noting examples of key intersections they found difficult to 12 of 23
navigate. Generally, the Commission expressed support for the project and overall approach.
Aside from the community touchpoints, the study was promoted through multiple methods including, but not limited to, door-to-door canvassing on the corridor (reaching over 260 businesses), postcard mailings to residents and businesses along Santa Monica Boulevard (10,000 in total), in-person business outreach, presentations to three neighborhood associations, and pop-up tabling at events such as the Downtown Farmer’s market, Douglas Park, and at McKinley Elementary School during their Multicultural Day event. Throughout the process, the community was able to obtain project information on a dedicated City webpage and provide comments via email. The final community touchpoint will be an open-house meeting to be held this summer along the corridor, where residents can review and comment on draft safety recommendations.
Based on the findings of the Safety Analysis and the feedback received from the community through the engagement process, the study team has developed safety recommendations that address identified crash patterns and community concerns, especially improving pedestrian crossings and limiting vehicle-pedestrian conflicts along Santa Monica Boulevard.
Draft Recommendations
As part of the safety walk audits, the community engagement feedback, and lessons learned from the Wilshire Safety Study project, the project team identified three categories for improvements: 1) systemic safety needs that can be applied corridorwide, 2) focus intersection recommendations, and 3) transit improvements.
Systemic Recommendations
Systemic recommendations would include the installation of low- to moderate-cost countermeasures at locations with a high risk of severe crashes. These improvements include:
• Consistent pavement markings and signage,
• Right-Turn-Only-Restrictions from side streets at unsignalized intersections, • Bicycle crossing improvements such as bike detection and carrying bike lanes through intersections,
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• Leading Pedestrian Interval (LPIs), and
• Signal timing coordination at all signalized intersections that will help mitigate congestion and ensure speed limit adherence (with a particular focus on the segment between 20th and 26th streets).
These recommendations are common in Santa Monica, and staff would utilize striping, signage, and bollards to implement in the near term.
Focus Intersection Recommendations
In addition to the systemic recommendations, the Santa Monica Boulevard Safety Study would include unique concept-level plans for 15 focus intersections to address their specific conditions. Focus intersections were identified by factoring their unique crash history and weighted crash severity rank, geometric conditions, proximity to community resources, project team observations, and community input. The recommended 15 focus intersections include:
• 6th Street
• Lincoln Boulevard
• 10th Street
• 11th Street
• 14th Street
• 15th Street
• 16th Street
• 18th Street
• 19th Street
• 20th Street
• Chelsea Ave
• 26th Street
• Princeton Street
• Stanford Street
• Franklin Street
Figure 7- Focus Intersection Locations
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For the purposes of this study session, the project team has outlined initial draft recommendations for five focus intersections (Attachment G). Similar design concepts and recommendations could be applied at other focus intersections as described below:
• 6th Street at Santa Monica Boulevard is an important node in Downtown and near community anchors including the Main Library, the Santa Monica Family YMCA, and many businesses. Of all the intersections along Santa Monica Boulevard, 6th Street ranked number 12 for weighted crash severity and received a high number of comments throughout the engagement process. There are also key bicycle and bus routes at this intersection and high pedestrian traffic.
Considering this, a scramble intersection is recommended at this location along with a “no right turn on red” prohibition to separate movements between pedestrians and drivers. Implementing these treatments gives pedestrians an exclusive signal phase to cross the street without the presence of vehicles entering the intersection, and crossings can be completed diagonally across an intersection. These improvements will be further studied for traffic impacts and could apply to the following intersections:
a. 2
nd Street
b. 4
th Street
c. 5
th Street
d. 6
th Street
e. 7
th Street
f. 20th Street
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• 10th Street at Santa Monica Boulevard is a two-way stop-controlled intersection with no marked crosswalk. This location is adjacent to the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center and small businesses. Of all the intersections along Santa Monica Boulevard, 10th Street ranked number 10 for weighted crash severity and generated a high number of comments throughout the engagement process. Crash history at this intersection includes two pedestrian crashes (one injury and one severe injury) for people crossing Santa Monica Boulevard.
Considering this, a new crosswalk, flashing beacons, and curb extensions are recommended at the west leg of the intersection to support crossing Santa Monica Boulevard. Flashing beacons alert drivers to yield to pedestrians crossing the street, while curb extensions reduce crossing distances and increase visibility of people at corners. As stated in the community engagement efforts, improving pedestrian crossings ranks as the highest priority for residents. To minimize conflicts with turning vehicles, a right turn only requirement from the side streets is also recommended. These improvements will be further studied and could be applied to the following intersections that do not currently have marked crosswalks:
a. 10th Street
b. 12th Street
c. 19th Street
d. Chelsea Avenue (would warrant additional analysis for a pedestrian signal)
e. Harvard Street
f. Stanford Street
g. Franklin Street
Figure 8 - New Pedestrian Crossings
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• 11th Street at Santa Monica Boulevard is a signalized intersection with class 2 bike lanes in the northbound and southbound approaches, and a pair of bus stops. Of all the intersections along Santa Monica Boulevard, 11th Street ranked number 11 for weighted crash severity. While the project team does not currently recommend bicycle facilities on Santa Monica Boulevard considering Broadway (one block south) will have separated bike lanes with an estimated construction date of March 2027, and Arizona Avenue (one block north) currently has green bike lanes, bicycle crossings through key intersections are recommended to support the bikeway network at the following locations:
a. 11th Street
b. 14th Street
c. Yale Steet
Locations with bikeways in Downtown are recommended for pedestrian scramble markings and not bikeway markings. The team also recommends relocating the eastbound bus stop at 11th Street to the far side of the intersection to improve safety.
Relocating bus stops to the far side is recommended at the following additional intersections:
a. 14th Street
b. Berkeley Street
Figure 9 - New Bikeway Crossing Improvements
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• 18th Street at Santa Monica Boulevard is an unsignalized intersection with a marked crosswalk and flashing beacon at the west leg of the intersection. Of all the intersections along Santa Monica Boulevard, 18th Street ranked number 8 for weighted crash severity and the safety analysis shows many vehicle crashes at this intersection occur with vehicles proceeding through from the side streets, resulting in broadside injury crashes. Considering the existing crosswalk and flashing beacon, the team recommends curb extensions to shorten the crossing distance for people walking, as well as right turn only prohibition from the side streets to minimize conflicts with turning or through vehicle movements. As stated in the community engagement efforts, improving pedestrian crossings ranks as the highest priority for residents. These improvements will be further studied and could be applied to other intersections with existing marked crosswalks, including:
a. 9
th Street
b. Euclid Street
c. 15th Street
d. 16th Street
e. 18th Street
f. Princeton Street
• Stanford Street at Santa Monica Boulevard is a two-way stop-controlled intersection with no marked crosswalk. During our walk audits and engagement 18 of 23
with local businesses, the team observed pedestrians crossing at this intersection. Of all the intersections along Santa Monica Boulevard, Stanford Street ranked number 24 for weighted crash severity and the safety analysis shows many vehicle crashes at this intersection occur with vehicles proceeding through from the side streets, resulting in broadside injury crashes. Considering this, a new crosswalk, flashing beacons, and a pedestrian refuge island located in the median is recommended at the east leg of the intersection to support crossing Santa Monica Boulevard. As stated in the community engagement efforts, improving pedestrian crossings ranks as the highest priority for residents, and pedestrian refuge islands help shorten crosswalk distances. While unsignalized intersections in the western portion of Santa Monica Boulevard are recommended for curb extensions, they are not proposed here as they would exclude the possibility of a curbside bus only lane on the eastern end of the corridor. The refuge island also impacts left turns from Santa Monica Boulevard which will be further studied and presented for community feedback. To minimize conflicts with turning vehicles, a right turn only requirement from the side streets is also recommended. These improvements could also be applicable to the following wide intersections at the eastern end of the project area:
a. Princeton Street
b. Harvard Street
c. Stanford Street
d. Franklin Street
Figure 10 - Pedestrian Crossing Improvements to Shorten Crossing Distances 19 of 23
These focus intersection recommendations are applicable to many other intersections throughout Santa Monica Boulevard and the Safety Study will provide recommendations for all intersections that warrant specific treatments. Recommendations for some intersections will require further study to ensure feasibility, namely:
• Chelsea Avenue – Study of a new crosswalk and appropriate safety countermeasures (i.e. flashing beacons, pedestrian signal, or traffic signal). • Lincoln Boulevard – Study of signal timing adjustments and potential bus queue jumps.
• 20th Street – Study of signal timing and pedestrian improvements for this high pedestrian area (could include scramble intersection).
Transit Improvements
Through the public engagement process the project team received comments about improving transit safety, reliability, and frequency on the corridor. The safety analysis also looked at transit performance for Big Blue Bus (BBB) Route 1 and Metro Line 4, both of which travel the extent of Santa Monica Boulevard. Headways for BBB Route 1 are scheduled for ten minutes at every stop. Route 1 experiences average speeds of 9 to 14 MPH, but generally experiences slower speeds from 20th Street to Cloverfield Boulevard during the AM and PM peak hours when compared to the rest of the corridor speeds, sometimes as low as 4-7 MPH in the eastbound direction. This route also experiences slower speeds in the Downtown area near the existing transit plaza. Metro Line 4 experiences consistent speeds of 10 to 15 MPH, although there are fewer bus 20 of 23
stops for Metro Line 4 (10 stops) compared to BBB Route 1 (25 stops), on Santa Monica Boulevard. Ridership data collected for both routes shows Downtown stops have the highest ridership, particularly at 6th Street and 4th Street. For BBB Route 1, the stops at 26th Street, 20th Street, and 14th Street also experience a high number of boardings and alightings compared to other stops on Santa Monica Boulevard.
Considering this project’s focus is examining traffic safety, the transit analysis is limited in scope, but the study will include a traffic analysis to better manage overall traffic flow, which impacts transit service. Safety-related transit improvement recommendations for Santa Monica Boulevard could include the relocation of bus stops from the near side to the far side of the intersection at the following locations:
• 11th Street
• 14th Street
• Berkeley Street
Relocating the bus stop to the far side of the intersection can improve pedestrian safety since it eliminates the sight distance restriction caused by the bus at intersections. For bus stops at nearside locations that cannot move far side due to existing conflicts (driveways, etc.), queue jumps are recommended. Queue jumps allow buses to bypass congested traffic at intersections, reducing delays and improving transit reliability.
Queue jumps are recommended at:
• Lincoln Boulevard
• 26th Street
Figure 11 - Bus Stop Improvements
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During the engagement process, the project team also received community feedback supporting bus-only lanes on Santa Monica Boulevard. Caltrans will be installing peakhour bus only lanes in the next few years on Santa Monica Boulevard in the City of Los Angeles starting at Centinela Avenue, just east of the Santa Monica city limits.
Meanwhile, the Westside Cities Council of Governments (WSCCOG) has initiated a project to analyze the implementation of bus-only lanes on key corridors in the region, including Santa Monica Boulevard. Considering this, the safety study could incorporate recommendations for bus-only lanes on Santa Monica Boulevard – especially for a curb-side design. This allows buses to travel along the curbside lane to efficiently pick up and drop off at existing bus stops during peak commuting hours without sharing travel lanes with vehicles. The City has recent examples of curbside peak-hour bus-only lanes along Lincoln Boulevard from Pico Boulevard south to the city limits, where onstreet parking is prohibited from 7 AM to 9 AM in the northbound direction, and from 4 PM to 7 PM in the southbound direction, Monday through Friday. Because right of way widths vary throughout Santa Monica Boulevard, a similar curb-side design bus-only lanes could be implemented from the city limit (Centinela Avenue) to 26th Street. This would be a natural extension of the Caltrans bus-only lanes being installed in the City of L.A., and where there is currently on-street parking and a sufficiently wide street profile (see Figure 12). Extending the bus-only lane further west would warrant additional study to fully understand the constraints and tradeoffs, like parking loss and traffic impacts caused by travel lane reductions. The safety recommendations for focus intersection locations described above are designed to ensure that safety improvements do not preclude the potential for curbside bus-only lanes on the eastern segment of Santa Monica Boulevard between 26th Street and Centinela Boulevard as shown in Figure 12.
Figure 12 - Street Widths along Santa Monica Boulevard
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Next Steps
The safety study is on track to be completed in early 2026 and the project team is currently planning an open house style community workshop in August 2025 to showcase draft recommendations and collect final input from the community for the potential tradeoffs with improving safety along Santa Monica Boulevard. The project team will develop the plan for Council adoption in March 2026. Like the implementation of the Wilshire Safety Study, the anticipated rollout of the plan will take a phased approach. Once adopted, the plan will be leveraged to pursue various grant funding opportunities to implement the plan’s concept level recommendations, which would also require a separate in-depth design process before construction. There is no current funding identified to construct the recommended safety improvements at this time.
Environmental Review
This study session of the Santa Monica Boulevard Safety Study is not a “project” subject to CEQA. Pursuant to CEQA Section 21065, the project does not meet the definition of a “project” subject to CEQA as it will not “cause either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment”. No actions or projects are being approved as part of this Additionally, per Section 15378(b) of the CEQA Guidelines, a “project” does not include general policy and procedure making. Furthermore, the safety study is exempt from CEQA pursuant to Section 15252 (Feasibility and Planning Studies) which exempts feasibility and planning studies for possible future actions which the agency, board, or commission has not 23 of 23
approved, adopted, or funded. The study identifies safety enhancements through analysis and outreach. Implementation of the improvements identified in the study would be subject to future environmental review and approval. Therefore, the study session is exempt pursuant to Section 15262.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
There is no financial impact as funding for this study has been secured through a Council adopted resolution on November 14, 2023, accepting a grant award in the amount of $522,327 from the Caltrans Sustainable Communities Grant Program, with a local match of $67,673 from Transportation Impact Fees (TIF - C1008880.689000).
Considering that this project is a study, staff will return to City Council upon securing additional grant funding to construct the recommendations in this project. Local funding sources may need to be used as a match.
Prepared By: Carlos Hernandez, Senior Transportation Planner - Bicycle Program
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Attachment A - Vision Zero Plan
B. Attachment B - Local Roadway Safety Plan
C. Attachment C - Santa Monica Blvd. Safety Study Grant Resolution D. Attachment D - Santa Monica Blvd. Safety Analysis Memo E. Attachment E - Touchpoint 1 Summary
F. Attachment F - Touchpoint 2 Summary
G. Attachment G -Draft Concept Plans for Focus Intersections H. Written Comments
I. PowerPoint Presentation