Walking and Biking Plan Opens for Comment Under a Zero-Traffic-Deaths Goal

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Pasadena’s Department of Transportation has opened public comment on a citywide Active Transportation Plan, a long-range blueprint for walking, biking, rolling and connecting to transit that would go to the City Council for adoption in 2028.

A hard target sits underneath it. The City Council has adopted a goal of zero traffic fatalities by 2035, set out in the Focused Local Roadway Safety Action Plan, and the department describes the Active Transportation Plan as “a mechanism to help achieve that goal.”

The work is paid for through the Federal Highway Administration’s Safe Streets and Roads for All program and must satisfy all of that program’s Action Plan requirements, according to the city’s request for proposals. The plan consolidates four earlier efforts — the 2006 Pedestrian Plan, the 2015 Bicycle Transportation Action Plan, the 2021 Greenways Feasibility Study and the 2024 Pedestrian Transportation Action Plan — and builds on the Mobility Element of the General Plan, adopted in 2015.

Among its stated aims is linking existing routes so a person can complete daily activities on “safe low stress routes,” the request for proposals says. A Community Advisory Committee will guide the project at key milestones.

The plan will gather community input, analyze data and evaluate projects, programs and policy options covering sidewalks and pedestrian crossings, bicycle and micromobility infrastructure, connections to transit, schools and parks, traffic safety changes meant to reduce serious injuries and deaths, accessibility for people of all ages and abilities, lighting and shade, and the identification of priority projects and funding, the city said in a news release.

Development runs in four phases from summer 2026 into winter and spring of 2028: existing conditions and engagement, then vision and recommendations, then a draft plan for public review, then consideration by city commissions and the Council. Phase 1 engagement will reach residents across all Council districts, including historically underserved areas, the department said.

Five pop-up appearances are scheduled. Staff will be at the Pasadena Chalk Festival at Brookside Park, 480 N. Arroyo Blvd., at 10 a.m. Sept. 26; the Victory Park Farmers Market at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 3; the Villa Park Farmers Market, 363 E. Villa St., at 8:30 a.m. Oct. 6; ArtNight Pasadena at the Pasadena Museum of History, 470 W. Walnut St., at 6 p.m. Oct. 9; and the Latino Heritage Parade and Festival at Pasadena City Hall at 4 p.m. Oct. 10.

The community survey is at https://fp.mysocialpinpoint.com/pasadena-atp. Project information is at https://www.cityofpasadena.net/transportation/transportation-improvements/active-transportation-plan/. The project team can be reached at ATP@cityofpasadena.net.