Category Archives: Pedestrian Action Plan

Action Alert: Stewart / Pennsylvania Bike & Pedestrian Project

Your input is needed!

Hello friends, interested in road safety?
We invite you to take this short survey now on the much needed and innovative improvements proposed for Stewart Street & Pennsylvania Avenue. The project is under attack for some of the needed safety improvements.

• You will be prompted to click on each icon in the navigation on the left.
• At the bottom of each element, there is a + with the name of the project.
• Click to take survey.
• Fill in comments, then submit. You only get once chance, so make it count.
• Move down the list to the next of the 4 element of the project to give your opinion.

City planners have designed a very innovative project and clearly worked extremely hard to design the best possible project incorporating community and local business input and feedback for the fewest tradeoffs and losses to parking. In addition to two Community Open Houses, local business and stakeholders have been engaged for input during the design process. This project is also identified as part of the Land Use and Circulation Element, the Bike Action Plan, the Bergamot Area Plan, and the Pedestrian Action Plan

It appears the project is being attacked by one of the local businesses that has taken a dislike to the project due to a (minimal) loss of on street metered parking, and a median that restricts left turns. These changes mitigate the current rather serious traffic conflicts and congestion by improving traffic flow and safety for all road users. The business has chosen to use a hot button issue to solicit push back on this safety improvement project – THIS PROJECT IS ABOUT SAFE AND EQUITABLE ACESS and IMPROVING OVERALL STREET SAFETY FOR EVERYONE! We love and support our local businesses, but we are extremely disappointed in this one for this smear campaign. Parking must NEVER, EVER outweigh safety improvements. 

This project exceeded our hopes for Stewart & Pennsylvania as it was identified in the Bike Action Plan and the Pedestrian Action Plan. WE LOVE IT. It will finally provide a needed north/south bike connection, pedestrian improvements, improved – safer north/south connections to EXPO and improved safe routes to schools, parks and local businesses! There are almost always tradeoffs when streets are reimagined to incorporate and improve equity and safety as a priority. Please join us in support of this project by taking the short survey – it really only takes a few minutes. 

About:

Stewart & Pennsylvania Safety Enhancement

The City of Santa Monica’s Stewart & Pennsylvania Safety Enhancement Project will enhance safety and access to/from the Expo 26th Street/Bergamot Station, and address safety issues identified as part of the City’s Take the Friendly Road campaign. The project seeks to enhance the safety and comfort for pedestrians and bicyclists along Stewart Street between Colorado and Kansas, and Pennsylvania Avenue between 26th Street and Stewart Street The safety enhancements include:

  • Enhancement of the existing bikelane to a protected bikeway along Stewart Street from Kansas to Colorado/Yale. 
  • Intersection safety enhancements at Stewart Street/Colorado/Yale and Stewart/Nebraska making crossings easier to navigate for pedestrian/bicyclists 
  • Add new sidewalks and pedestrian scale lighting along Pennsylvania Avenue, between 26th Street and Stewart Street
  • Add Curb Extension and new curb ramps

This project is part of an on-going citywide effort to enhance safety for people that walk, bike, or take transit. 

Please do let us know if you have any questions. Stay tuned for future updates and Action Alerts!
Thank you in advance!

Open House: Stewart / Pennsylvania Bike & Pedestrian Project

Please join us at an Open House hosted by City of Santa Monica for the Stewart and Pennsylvania Avenue Bike and Pedestrian Improvement project. There are two dates you can attend, December 14th or December 18th. There is also an interactive map to review and provide comments online. We were excited to give input to help shape the project to date and look forward to community input to help further build a project that will best serve equitable mobility in a safer, healthy and active Santa Monica. Together we can create a safe and friendly community for everyone.

Project Goal:
Walk & Bike Pedestrian improvements for Stewart and Pennsylvania Avenues

This project aims to make improvements that will connect local neighborhoods to transit facilities, bikeways, schools, parks, and employment opportunities. The Land Use and Circulation Element (LUCE), Bicycle Action Plan (BAP), Bergamot Area Plan, and Pedestrian Action Plan all identify Stewart Street and Pennsylvania Avenue to include safety enhancements for pedestrians and bicyclists of all ages and abilities. This project plans to implement those improvements.

Project Elements:
•  Add new sidewalks, and pedestrian scale lighting on Pennsylvania Avenue between 26th Street and Stewart Street.
•  Enhance bike facility to a protected bikeway on Stewart Street between Colorado Avenue and Kansas Avenue to accommodate riders of all ages and abilities.
•  Enhance intersections at Stewart/Nebraska and Colorado/Yale.

We encourage you to check out the interactive map to review the project and provide comment.
Upcoming open house information session flyers:
•  Virginia Avenue Park Library Annex Saturday, December 14, 2019 from 2:30 PM – 5:00 PM
•  Edison Language Academy Wednesday, December 18, 2019 from 5:30 PM – 8:00 PM

Interactive Safety Map – add your concerns!

Click on map

Calling all road users: people walking, biking, driving cars or scooters! The City of Santa Monica launched an interactive map to provide input on where our communities problem areas are as we studying how to best improve road safety in Santa Monica. We shared this at our last meeting and as part of the Wilshire Blvd. Safety Study outreach. We’ve had some great input – have you given yours? We are asking you to use this new interactive map tool to report any safety concerns you may have through out all of Santa Monica.
Check it out at santamonica.gov/friendlyroad

September: Walk with the Mayor

For the month of September, we join Mayor Ted Winterer and Adopt-A-Walk for a two mile walking adventure that explores one of three neighborhood walking routes.

The walk on September 9th will leave from Reed Park — at the corner of California Ave. and Lincoln Blvd — at 10 am and loop back to Reed Park just in time for all the festivities of the Buy Local Health and Fitness Festival. See our calendar for more information on the event here or learn more on the event website here.

All you need are good walking shoes and your water bottle. The walk will be a delightful 2 mile loop through the neighborhood with the mayor, staff and the YOU!

Dogs, children and strollers are ALL WELCOME!

About the Mayor’s Ride:
Biking (AND WALKING) is better with friends! The monthly Mayor Ride was born at the Breeze One year Anniversary Event with a proclamation from our City Manager Rick Cole. We led the 1st Ride with the Mayor which was joined by the California Bicycle Coalition Board of Directors in January 2017 – This free local event has continued with monthly community bike rides with Mayor Ted Winterer and City Staff since in January with a different theme monthly. This month we are mixing it up with a walk to get a fresh and different perspective of our community. Come meet the Mayor, City staff, and your neighbors while enjoying the Santa Monica sunshine on this conversation paced, lovely walk!

Stay up to date on events all over Santa Monica and the Westside at SMSpoke.org, and here on our calendar. You can also check out Santa Monica City Planning on Facebook

About Adopt A Walk:
Adopt A Walk is a health advocacy organization passionate about creating and promoting walking friendly communities to improve the health of the people in the community in a fun and easy way. Adding walking paths can lead more adults to become active. Adopt A Walk works with city planners to establish permanently marked walking paths easily accessible. Learn more: https://www.adoptawalk.org/

Vision Zero Santa Monica starts NOW: Will you join us?

Beyond our collaborative efforts and the petition with Santa Monica Forward and Santa Monica Walks, today this letter was sent to Santa Monica City Council from Santa Monica Spoke and Climate Action Santa Monica (CASM) supporting Vision Zero Implementation and funding. Join our campaign for safer streets today! You can still click here to Sign the Petition for Safer Streets Today!

More info on City Council Meeting tonight here. Join us, sign up for our email list in the sidebar or click here to email us at  volunteer@SMSpoke.org!

Dear Mayor, City Council, City management and staff

With the number of crashes involving fatalities or serious injuries nearing double digits in just the last few weeks — the time is now to make a strong commitment to Vision Zero and a true meaningful investment in safer streets.

Santa Monica is not suffering alone in the current increasing epidemic of serious injuries and traffic fatalities. Nationally, almost 40,000 people die each year in traffic collisions, numbers are up everywhere including in our neighbor, Los Angeles. Many cities, including Los Angeles, are adopting proactive and aggressive campaigns to address this crisis and have proposed dedicating substantial Measure M money for this purpose. We are a community in Santa Monica and need to work together to keep our residents and visitors safe. We must progress beyond words on a page and create a proactive, transparent system with dedicated funding and actions toward this effort, if we truly want to succeed in reducing preventable traffic fatalities and serious  injuries. One’s life should be not put at risk for walking or riding a bike, especially when we are encouraging people to walk and bike for daily life, our heath, and the environment.

“Managing speed,” a new report from The World Health Organization [1], notes that excessive or inappropriate speed contributes to 1 in 3 road traffic fatalities worldwide. “Measures to address speed prevent road traffic deaths and injuries, make populations healthier, and cities more sustainable.”

Speed increases the severity of injuries and chances of fatality in traffic collisions. The chances of a dying when struck by a vehicle at 20mph = 5% but increases to 45% at 30mph and a chilling 85% at 40mph! Please reflect on that for a moment — consider that although our posted speed limits (attachment 1) should be relatively safe for walking and biking – possible and actual speeds are often at or above 40mph (studies indicate that typically 40–50% of drivers go over posted speed limits).  Add to that distracted, ambivalent and aggressive driving, and it becomes very dangerous for people walking and biking.

This is not just an enforcement problem. Coordinated efforts involving community engagement, safety campaigns, roadway improvements and city policy must work hand-in-hand with sustained equitable enforcement. This epidemic of preventable loss of life extends far beyond the individual victims themselves and forever impacts the lives of family, friends and our community. We must emphasize our value of human life above all other factors.

In the 50’s, traffic deaths, individual and totals were openly published in the daily newspaper. Our current tendency is to bury this data, which dehumanizes these preventable deaths and injuries making them so abstract as though they are someone else’s problem. They are our problem. With collaboration and openness and outreach we can begin to again humanize this growing epidemic and actively begin to implement real solutions.

With the 2 year budget soon to be approved, the time is now to demonstrate true leadership and real investment in the safety for our community with Vision Zero. As we lead the charge to reduce preventable traffic fatalities to zero in 10 years it will require transparency, leadership and real investment in the form of funding for dedicated staffing and coordinated safety infrastructure improvements. Vision Zero must be an inter-agency collaboration that builds sustained leadership between elected leaders, City management, staff, city departments and agencies and the community.

It is essential we hire full-time staff (pedestrian safety coordinator recommended in the adopted Pedestrian Action Plan,) to take lead and coordinate Vision Zero and to fund improved safety infrastructure, like separated bike lanes, better crosswalks, and safer sidewalks. Changes in practice must institutionalize, catalyzed and guided with staff effort and focus. It is imperative that we use a data-driven process to implement strategies, evaluate our progress and institute adjustments as necessary. Los Angeles provides good examples with their recent Vision Zero Website (attachment 2). In addition to dedicated staff, outside consultants will likely be needed to assist in setting targets and identifying inter-departmental practices necessary for achieving meaningful success for Vision Zero.

Safe Routes to School works to encourage students to walk and bike to school – we know activity has been proven to increase overall health and learning. With an engaged active school like McKinley Elementary (top performer during the last 4 BikeIT WalkIT BusIT events) we can target improvements that serve many families. McKinley was identified as one of the most dangerous schools for Pedestrian Safety in California so funding in this corridor should be on the priority list. Let’s create robust and connected safety corridors around all our schools. We must have dedicated staff to coordinate this effort.

In addition to institutionalizing the creation of safer streets we should also be looking to adopt a robust Complete Streets policy and establish the long requested Bicycle & Pedestrian Advisory committee that should include input on implementation of  Vision Zero.

In Santa Monica we lead with initiatives like the Wellbeing Project that prioritizes human health and safety. In 1994, Santa Monica led with the Sustainability Plan that followed with the establishment of an Office of Sustainability and Environment and Sustainability Director (now Chief Sustainability Officer). Encouraging active transportation requires a Vision Zero policy and infrastructure that removes safety barriers to make it a viable choice for our community, and a staff framework to make safety real.

Santa Monica has a history of demonstrating leadership with commitment to the environment, reducing green house gas emissions, as the City encourages residents and visitors to use alternate modes of transportation like walking, biking and public transportation. With that there is also the obligation to keep us safe when we opt for these modes, whether out of necessity, for our health or for the planet. The climate benefits of bicycling and walking are significant and essential to confront our climate crisis.  According to the Pacific Institute study, depending on one’s diet, each mile bicycled reduces from 87% to 97% the CO2 emissions of driving. For every mile walked, there is a reduction of 77% to 95% of the CO2 emissions caused by driving. Getting out of the car to move about our community, however, to advance health and climate measures means little or nothing if safety is not also prioritized. As with sustainability, Santa Monica can lead on Vision Zero.

This letter is submitted on behalf of Santa Monica Spoke and Climate Action Santa Monica.
Cynthia Rose, Katherine King and Cris Gutierrez


[1] Speed management key to saving lives, making cities more liveable
Attachment 1 – City of Santa Monica Speed Limit Map
Attachment 2  – LADOT Roadway Fatalities http://visionzero.lacity.org/map/

Attachment 1, Speed Limit Map City of Santa Monica

Attachment 2 Los Angeles Roadway fatalities Map