Pasadena’s Transportation Department Recognized for Its Efforts To Make A City Where You Can Live Without A Car

Despite traffic woes, many citizens are reluctant to use public transportation due to concerns over safety and convenience, a USC mobility survey found.
In such a time, Pasadena’s Department of Transportation has been recognized for its efforts to make Pasadena a city where people can circulate without cars.

ActiveSGV declared Pasadena’s DOT the Outstanding San Gabriel Valley City of the Year at the organization’s annual awards bash, Noches de las Luminarias, on Sept. 22.

During the awarding ceremony, Pasadena’s DOT was acknowledged as the leader in the San Gabriel Valley and the State of California.

“In 2014, Pasadena DOT became the first transportation agency in all of California to adopt progressive transportation impact analysis, known as ‘VMT,’ or Vehicle Miles Traveled, as a method of evaluating new developments in the City of Pasadena,” a post on the ActiveSGV blog said. “Shortly after Pasadena adopted this approach to reducing and mitigating vehicle trips associated with new construction, California followed suit.”

The award also recognized the Pasadena DOT as among the first in southern California to adopt and implement best practices in safe street design.

“Over the past decade, the City led the region in implementing Lead Pedestrian Interval (LPI) walk signal timing in its vibrant downtown district. LPI provided people walking in the streets a head start before crossing an intersection. This design intervention has been shown to reduce pedestrian-vehicle collisions by up to 60 percent per the national federal highway administration,” according to the blog post.

Transportation Director Laura Rubio-Cornejo said the event honors people and groups making strides to realize a more sustainable, equitable, and livable San Gabriel Valley.

The award also mentioned Pasadena’s Transportation Department as being an early adopter of diagonal intersection crossings to prioritize foot traffic in the City’s famous Old Pasadena district.

Additionally, the city was also commended for implementing both a citywide quick response “Slow Streets” program and on-street dining program in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, and for the current construction on the Union Street Two-Way Protected Bikeway, which will be one of the first protected two-way bikeways countywide when completed in spring 2023.

“In 2021, Pasadena DOT completed a City-wide pedestrian plan update, ‘Pasadena Walks.’ The project identified dangerous corridors for walking, prioritized them, and created a toolkit composed of engineering solutions to reduce fatalities and injuries along the corridors,” the ActiveSGV post said.

“In addition, continuing its leadership in the SGV, Pasadena DOT moved forward with a road sign memorial program that will honor victims of traffic violence. The program is the first of its kind in the San Gabriel Valley.”

ActiveSGV also said the Pasadena Transportation Department is shepherding what will be the largest single investment in local transportation improvements in a generation: over a quarter billion dollars in 710-N funds will be reallocated for local mobility projects that will take place over the next five years – projects “that will shape how people get around Pasadena decades to come.”

ActiveSGV was launched by a group of concerned community members who shared a vision of a cohesive network of people-friendly streets in the San Gabriel Valley.
“Since 2010, ActiveSGV’s team has worked on fostering civic engagement in communities across the San Gabriel Valley to effect policy, program and environmental change.”