North Lake Avenue Heads Into Final Design for $9.9 Million Safety Rebuild

A 0.6-mile stretch of North Lake Avenue — the busy spine that links central Pasadena to the neighborhoods north of the 210 Freeway and into Altadena — is heading toward a $9.9 million rebuild designed to slow traffic and shorten the walk across the street.

After a process that began with a 2020–2021 corridor study and a 2023 state grant, the city’s plan for the stretch between Mountain Street and Maple Street is entering final design, according to the Pasadena Department of Transportation’s project website. The core design is already set, the city says, and officials are now re-engaging residents before construction begins in 2027.

The numbers explain the attention. North Lake Avenue carries about 36,800 vehicles on an average weekday, according to the city, and a few of its intersections rank among those with the highest collision frequencies in Pasadena. Today the corridor runs two travel lanes in each direction, with a center turn lane or raised median down the middle.

The redesign would change how that space is divided. City project materials describe narrowing the travel lanes — while keeping the same number of them — to nudge speeds down, alongside wider sidewalks, high-visibility crosswalks and curb extensions that push the sidewalk into the roadway to shorten the distance people on foot must cross. The plan also calls for raised medians — which the city says also discourage some unsafe mid-block left turns — along with ADA-compliant curb ramps and upgraded bus zones.

Two changes target the moment a person steps off the curb. Leading pedestrian intervals would give walkers a three-to-seven-second head start into the intersection before drivers get a green light, and advanced stop bars — white lines painted farther back from each crosswalk — would set drivers a safe distance behind it, according to the department’s project materials.

The money comes from the state. In 2023, Pasadena was awarded an Active Transportation Program Cycle 6 grant of $9.9 million, administered through Caltrans, to fund final design and construction, according to the city. The program, approved in part by the California Transportation Commission in 2023, funds walking and biking projects across California.

The design itself grew out of the earlier corridor study, which the city says included a public survey, a community workshop and three virtual design workshops before producing the concept that won the grant. Because the award is tied to that concept, the city says the fundamentals cannot change at this stage. The current outreach — a social-media and signage campaign, pop-up events along the avenue, and direct contact with adjacent businesses — is being conducted in English and Spanish and is meant to build awareness and share next steps rather than change the design, according to the project website.

The work also arrives as the corridor draws broader planning interest. In November 2025, the City Council adopted the North Lake Specific Plan, a long-range land-use blueprint for denser, more walkable development near the Lake Metro A Line station, according to Pasadena Now. The safety project is being coordinated with that plan and with nearby neighborhood traffic programs, the city says.

Joaquin Siques was appointed Pasadena’s transportation director in March 2024. The public campaign carrying the project’s renderings is branded “Safer Streets for All.”

The city is directing residents to its project website for design details and the schedule of upcoming outreach.

For now, the roughly 36,800 vehicles that pass through each weekday — and the pedestrians, cyclists and bus riders sharing the same 0.6-mile stretch — will see little change. The paint, curbs and signals, the city says, are not expected until 2027.