REPORT TO BICYCLE AND PEDESTRIAN ADVISORY COMMITTEE
SUBJECT
Title
Santa Clara Vision Zero: Priority Project List and Draft Plan (He)
Report
Vision Zero is a strategy aimed at helping to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries, while also promoting safe and healthy mobility for everyone. Developing and implementing a Vision Zero Plan is listed as an objective in both the City’s Bicycle Plan and Pedestrian Master Plan. In December 2023, the City Council accepted Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant funding from the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) to establish a Santa Clara Vision Zero Plan. The City Council approved an agreement with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. for professional services for the Santa Clara Vision Zero Plan on May 28, 2024.
The Santa Clara Vision Zero Plan (Plan) kicked off in July 2024. This effort involves conducting extensive community engagement and a thorough citywide safety analysis to identify the most frequent types, locations, severity, and demographics of collisions in the city. The Plan will develop a collision countermeasure toolbox, which will include programmatic measures and potential roadway improvements to address traffic safety issues. Additionally, the Plan will identify a priority list of potential traffic safety improvements and implementable actions to guide the City’s efforts in achieving Vision Zero.
The project has been presented to the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) at three previous meetings:
• In August 2024, staff provided a project overview and the BPAC selected Member Kratz as the BPAC representative to serve on the Vision Zero Working Group, which guides the development of the Vision Zero Plan.
• In January 2025, staff provided a summary of collision analysis findings and the draft High-Injury Network (HIN). The HIN reflects the locations where the highest number of traffic fatalities and severe injuries occurred, and staff can use this HIN as a tool to prioritize future roadway improvement projects and update the City’s policies and guidelines, as necessary.
• In March 2025, staff provided an update on collision profiles, a draft countermeasure toolbox, and outlined preliminary Vision Zero actions and strategies.
DISCUSSION
Since the March 2025 BPAC meeting, the project team has advanced several key components of the project. Community engagement efforts were completed through a second online survey and two community events. Additionally, building from the development of the HIN, the project team developed draft project implementation criteria designed to guide the prioritization of near-term, mid-term, and long-term projects based on factors such as safety impact, implementation cost, project readiness, grant competitiveness, and overall complexity. In addition to an infrastructure-focused project implementation strategy, action-oriented strategies were developed to guide proactive implementation of future safety projects and initiatives through continued partnership and collaboration between City departments, Vision Zero Working Group (VZWG) members, and other key stakeholders.
An outline of the Draft Vision Zero Plan has also been prepared, offering a comprehensive framework for implementing these Vision Zero initiatives designed to eliminate traffic fatalities and severe injuries.
Stakeholder and Community Engagement
The third phase of community engagement was conducted through a combination of virtual and in-person activities. Online efforts included a survey and the third community workshop. In-person outreach activities involved community tabling at two events - Earth Day/Arbor Day on April 10 and Bike to Work Day on May 16, in which the project team engaged with more than 300 people and 200 people, respectively, to solicit feedback on potential traffic safety improvements.
The project team launched the HIN Safety Survey on the project website on February 18, 2025, and closed the survey on April 7, 2025. This survey gathered responses from 729 people, 545 of whom (75%) were residents of Santa Clara. The survey aimed to assess perceptions of traffic-related injuries and near misses in the city’s HIN and gather suggestions for safety improvements. Survey participants expressed concerns about several intersections and areas in Santa Clara, with common issues including frequent red light running and the need for more protected left-turn signals. The survey also asked the community to identify any HIN segments known for traffic-related injuries or near misses. The following segments were most selected by the community as areas with traffic concerns:
1. El Camino Real (San Tomas Expressway - City Limits in the east)
2. Lafayette Street (El Camino Real - Bellomy Street)
3. Homestead Road (Lawrence Expressway - Kiely Boulevard)
4. Lawrence Expressway (El Camino Real - Homestead Road)
5. San Tomas Expressway (Central Expressway - US 101)
On March 5, 2025, the City hosted a second community workshop which had 24 community participants. At this in-person workshop, the project team shared a summary of the first round of community engagement, reviewed collision data analysis results, and solicited input on the draft Countermeasure Toolbox and HIN locations identified. Through interactive activities and small group discussions, community members learned about the potential safety countermeasures in the Draft Countermeasure Toolbox and were able to provide input on potential HIN locations where future safety countermeasure implementation may be beneficial. To promote pedestrian and bicycle safety, community members also received free safety items including bike lights, clip-on safety lights, and reflective armbands.
On May 7, 2025, the City hosted a third community workshop via Zoom which had 28 community participants. At this virtual workshop, the project team provided an overview of Vision Zero and the project timeline, discussed engagement efforts to-date, and summarized results from the second community survey. The presentation also included an overview of the project implementation approach, which consists of a mix of near-, mid- and long-term projects, and information on the Safe System Approach.
High Injury Network & Priority HIN Corridors
The HIN represents the corridors and intersections in the City with the highest concentration of collisions, with an emphasis on collisions resulting in fatalities and severe injuries (KSIs) based on historical collision data from 2016 to 2023. The HIN serves as a tool for the City to prioritize locations for safety interventions as part of its Vision Zero initiative and basis of Safety Corridors to potentially reduce speed limits as defined by state law AB 43.
The project team identified priority HIN corridor projects along a subset of the HIN based on collision density and injury severity (Attachment 1). The top priority HIN corridors are listed below. Draft project improvements were preliminarily identified along these corridors using safety countermeasures contained in the City’s Countermeasure Toolbox, based on primary collision factors from collision reports and community input from past surveys. See exhibits in Attachment 2.
Table 1: Priority HIN Corridors
|
Street |
Limits |
Maintained by |
|
Monroe Street |
Lawrence Expressway - Bowers Avenue; San Tomas Aquino Creek Trail - Scott Boulevard |
City |
|
Lafayette Street |
El Camino Real - Poplar Street; Central Expressway - El Camino Real |
City |
|
De La Cruz Blvd/Coleman Ave Interchange |
De La Cruz Boulevard from Central Expressway to Lafayette Street; Coleman Avenue from Reed Street to the City limit line |
City |
|
Scott Boulevard |
Bowers Avenue - San Tomas Expressway; Monroe Street - El Camino Real |
City |
|
Homestead Road |
Lawrence Expressway - Kiely Boulevard |
City |
|
Pruneridge Avenue |
Lawrence Expressway - Kiely Boulevard |
City |
|
Stevens Creek Boulevard |
Kiely Boulevard - San Tomas Expressway |
City |
|
El Camino Real |
Halford Avenue - Scott Boulevard |
Caltrans |
|
San Tomas Expressway/ Montague Expressway |
Central Expressway - Lafayette Street |
County |
Implementation Criteria
Implementation of the Vision Zero Plan will be based on criteria designed to guide the identification and prioritization of projects. This strategic approach to project implementation will leverage local funds (i.e. through the City’s existing Capital Improvement Program) and state and federal grant programs, including, but not limited to, Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) and SS4A. Implementation criteria will be developed to guide the prioritization of near-term, mid-term, and long-term projects based on factors such as safety impact, implementation cost, project readiness, grant competitiveness, and overall complexity.
• Near-Term: Improvements which are generally low cost and high benefit projects, easier to implement, systemic in nature
• Mid-Term: Slightly higher difficulty in implementation, more challenging than near-term
• Long-Term: Significant infrastructure investments, complex safety challenges, likely requiring multiple funding sources
Draft Vision Zero Plan Outline
Building on work completed to date, the project team developed a draft outline for the Draft Vision Zero Plan. The Plan follows the requirement of the FHWA and the SS4A grant program, and will include these key chapters:
1. Introduction - including message from City leaders and acknowledgments
2. About Vision Zero - Background, Vision Statement and Guiding Principles
3. Community Engagement - Vision Zero Working Group and community input
4. Safety Analysis - Collision Data Analysis, High Injury Network (HIN), Collision Profiles
5. Countermeasure Toolbox
6. Action Plan to Reach Zero Deaths and Severe Injuries - Project Selection and Prioritization, Policy and Program List, Funding Strategy, and Progress, Transparency, and Accountability Guidance
To stay up to date on the project and provide input, the community can participate in various ways:
• Web: Subscribe for project updates at SantaClaraCA.gov/VisionZero
• Voicemail: 408-915-6566
• Email: SantaClaraVisionZero@kimley-horn.com <mailto:SantaClaraVisionZero@kimley-horn.com>
At the June 23, 2025 BPAC meeting, the project team will:
1. Share a summary of community feedback collected during the third phase of community engagement activities;
2. Present citywide HIN corridors and intersections, including bicycle HIN, pedestrian HIN, and priority project corridors;
3. Present and solicit input on potential Vision Zero actions and strategies, including those in which the BPAC can participate with future implementation efforts;
4. Present a draft outline of the Vision Zero Plan; and
5. Outline future outreach activities and the next steps for the project.
Staff
Written by: Nicole He, Associate Engineer, Public Works
Reviewed by: Carol Shariat, Principal Transportation Planner, Public Works
Reviewed by: Steve Chan, Transportation Manager, Public Works
Approved by: Michael Liw, Assistant Director/City Engineer, Public Works
ATTACHMENTS
1. Priority HIN Corridor Project Location Map
2. Priority HIN Corridor Project Draft Safety Improvements Exhibits