Pasadena Eyes 2035 Goal to End Traffic Fatalities in Sweeping Safety Plan

Pasadena’s Transportation Advisory Commission on Thursday, Sept. 25, will hear a city staff recommendation to endorse the city’s new Local Roadway Safety Action Plan and set a goal of eliminating traffic deaths and reducing serious injuries by 2035, a step aimed at qualifying Pasadena for federal “Safe Streets and Roads for All” grants and aligning with state speed-management policy. The commission will also be asked to recommend adoption by the City Council.

Director of Transportation Joaquin T. Siques will present the plan, which consolidates and updates several existing efforts — the 2022 Local Roadway Safety Plan, the 2024 Pedestrian Transportation Action Plan, the 2021 Greenways Feasibility Study, and the FY 2025–29 transportation Capital Improvement Program — into a single, federally compliant action plan. Pasadena received $200,000 in SS4A funding in 2023 to produce the document and hired Fehr & Peers in spring 2024. The plan also positions the city to use new “safety corridor” designations to lower speed limits under Assembly Bill 43 where crash patterns warrant.

Using five years of collision data and two rounds of public outreach in 2024–25, staff identified a citywide safety problem concentrated on a relatively small share of streets. Segments comprising 13% of Pasadena’s roadway network account for about 80% of injury crashes. Updated analysis of 2020–24 collisions shows 3,051 injury crashes, with 6% involving a fatality or serious injury; 65% of vehicle crashes occurred at signalized intersections; and unsafe speed was a primary factor in 20% of injury crashes and 25% of the most severe cases. Pedestrians represent 28% of all killed or seriously injured victims.

The plan advances 15 priority safety projects for near-, mid-, and long-term delivery. Citywide measures include implementing citywide high-visibility (continental) crosswalks, expanding leading pedestrian intervals and accessible pedestrian signals, and adding emergency-vehicle signal preemption. Corridor projects focus on Lake Avenue, Los Robles Avenue, Fair Oaks Avenue, Washington Boulevard, Colorado Boulevard (Allen Avenue to Sierra Madre Boulevard), Arroyo Parkway (Glenarm Street to Cordova Street), and Marengo Avenue (Glenarm Street to Villa Street). Tools include curb extensions, protected left-turn phasing, roadway reconfiguration, bikeway upgrades, and, on Washington Boulevard (Forest Avenue to Catalina Avenue), bicycle improvements. Pedestrian Hybrid Beacon (HAWK) signals are proposed at non-signalized crossings on Lincoln Avenue at Toolen Place, Lake Avenue at Atchison and Elizabeth streets, and Washington Boulevard at Bresee Avenue. A neighborhood traffic-calming package is proposed for Sunset Avenue (Howard Street to Hammond Street).

To shape the priorities, the Department of Transportation convened a Community Advisory Committee in December 2024 and, along with public outreach, screened about 80 previously planned projects from the LRSP, PTAP, Greenways Feasibility Study, and the Transportation CIP against SS4A criteria before narrowing to the final list.

If endorsed, staff would pursue federal SS4A implementation funding expected to open in spring 2026 and redevelop a public, quarterly updated online dashboard to track crashes and project outcomes. The plan adopts the “Safe System” approach, emphasizing safer speeds and safer streets, and calls for coordinated work by Transportation, Public Works, Police, Fire, Public Health, institutions, and residents to meet the 2035 target.

The full plan is online here.