Tell City Council on March 25: Support Quick-Build Traffic Calming

The City Council will vote on March 25th to approve one of our long-standing recommendations: funding rapid response Quick-Build traffic calming on high-injury streets!

Strong SacTown will hold an Advocacy Power Hour before the Council meeting to prepare for our public comments together. Then we’ll walk over to City Hall together.

How to Help

1. Call and email your Councilmember: Ideally Monday!
   
2. Submit an E-Comment: Anytime before Tuesday @ 5 PM (earlier is better)
   Write an online comment in support of the Transportation Safety Initiative and emphasizing the need for this program to prioritize the safety of our most vulnerable road users – people walking and biking.
   Your voice matters, and this is an easy and effective way to make it heard.
   
   • Item #21: Transportation Safety Initiative: Establish Positions, Establish Quick Build Capital Improvement Project, and Suspend Competitive Bidding and Approve an Alternative Procurement Process to Install Signing and Striping and Quick Build Improvements (Two-Thirds Vote Required) 
     Select the Position: Support
     
3. Attend the Council meeting and comment with us in person: Tuesday evening
   We will hold an Advocacy Power Hour at Sana’a Cafe on 9th & K from 4-4:40 PM to prepare for our public comments. Then we’ll walk over to the 5 PM City Council Meeting together.

What is Quick-Build Infrastructure?

• Uses materials which can be designed and installed in a matter of hours or days – such as paint, barriers, signs, planters, and delineators.
• Less permanent than concrete, but is low-cost and immediately effective.
• Can more easily be changed to adapt to local and emerging needs, or make tweaks based on usage patterns.

Talking Points

Our Ask: Approve the Transportation Safety Initiative in full and work with the Active Transportation Commission to advise on implementation. Quick-build projects should be the #1 priority to successfully address Sacramento’s systemic transportation issues — with quick, responsive, and effective safety improvements on as many miles of existing street as possible.

Why does this matter?

• Quick-builds can help us meet the urgency of our traffic fatality crisis by allowing many of our streets to become safer TODAY rather than waiting for decades for a few total street redesigns.
• Street design is more effective than enforcement at slowing cars and eliminating serious and fatal collisions.
• The City’s 2017 Vision Zero Plan acknowledges street design changes (and the permanent, dedicated funding source for Vision Zero implementation and coordination) as necessary actions to achieve Vision Zero.

How should this be implemented?

• The City has already funded and created plans with community input, such as the Vision Zero Plan. The City should also look to the Streets for People Active Transportation Plan, once adopted, to inform where community members have identified the most need for traffic calming.
• The Active Transportation Commission should be empowered to advise the City on implementation of these projects, as they are already set up to advise on bike/ped safety issues and safe streets.
• The new Transportation Safety Team should consult with groups like Strong SacTown, Civic Thread, Sacramento Area Bicycle Advocates, North Natomas Jibe, and other transportation advocacy groups, who can support with community outreach and education on the benefits of quick-build projects.

Background

• In February, City traffic engineering staff proposed a new team of 6 engineers to form a Transportation Safety Team with dedicated funding to implement rapid “quick-build” traffic calming projects on our high-risk roads, such as Northgate Blvd and Fruitridge Rd. This is a great move by the city to be flexible in the face of a budget deficit and to heed our call to prioritize safe streets!
  
• This proposal will do the following:
  • Create a new Transportation Safety Team within the Traffic Engineering Team which would focus on rapid-response traffic safety improvements at intersections, pedestrian crossings, and high-risk roadway locations.
  • Implement quick, cost-effective solutions that can be deployed within months, rather than years (such as vertical delineators, barriers, and channelizing traffic posts)
  • Use real-time crash data to identify high-risk areas in collaboration with the Police Department’s
    Traffic/Major Collision Investigation Unit
  • Address community-reported safety concerns with targeted infrastructure changes

In response to concerns about transportation safety, this item proposes several new
actions to increase the City’s ability to install improvements to the transportation network more
rapidly, including new staff positions, new programs, and ability to procure sufficient qualified
contractors in advance to complete projects as they are identified through on-call contracts or master
services agreements.
Source: Council Meeting Agenda Item

• Thanks to our efforts, the Budget & Audit Committee supported this proposal on February 25, and it is going to be voted on by the full Council on March 25.
  
• Strong SacTown members testified in favor of Quick-Build traffic calming in January, March, and June 2024 during the budget season. Unfortunately, Council did not vote to approve the funding then.
  
• The proposal this Tuesday has a much better chance because it has been approved by the Budget & Audit Committee and the proposal does not require any additional funding.
  
• This proposal is a big deal and shows that the City is finally responding to a demand echoed by many groups who are tired of losing our community members on the streets due to traffic violence.

We hope to see you on March 25! Send any questions to StrongSacTown@gmail.com.