Seaside adopts data-driven Local Roadway Safety Plan to target high-collision corridors

Seaside staff presented the city’s newly completed Local Roadway Safety Plan, a data-driven program intended to reduce traffic fatalities and serious injuries by prioritizing multimodal safety investments in corridors and intersections with the highest injury rates.

The plan, presented by Patrick Croghan, associate civil engineer in Public Works, identifies emphasis areas including Fremont Boulevard, Canyon Del Rey Boulevard, Del Monte Boulevard and several intersections near Highway 1. “The local roadway safety plan or LRSP as I’ll refer to it, is a data driven plan for roadway safety improvements aimed at improving safety for all types of roadway users, including pedestrians and bicyclists,” Croghan said.

The LRSP was developed using injury-and-fatality crash records from 2018–2022 from the state’s TIMSS/Safetrex database, with technical review by a staffed advisory group that included Seaside Police, Fire, Public Works, Monterey County transportation staff and the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District. Croghan said the plan focuses on collisions that resulted in injury or death and excludes non‑injury crashes.

Why it matters: the LRSP is the planning document grant programs now commonly require. Croghan told council the city received $36,000 from the Caltrans Highway Safety Improvement Program to develop the plan and that having an LRSP or Vision Zero framework improves eligibility for grants such as Safe Streets for All and other state transportation programs.

Key elements and next steps: the plan maps a high-collision network and recommends engineering, education, enforcement, emergency response and emerging-technology countermeasures. Examples include curb bulb-outs and directional curb ramps to improve pedestrian visibility, protected left-turn phasing at signalized intersections, improved signal timing, reflective markings, “daylighting” red curb at intersections to improve sight lines, and targeted enforcement priorities.

Croghan noted short-term items staff will pursue include signal-timing adjustments and evaluating an “all-red” clearance interval at certain intersections. He also said the city will integrate LRSP recommendations into future capital projects and coordinate with neighboring jurisdictions and a planned countywide safety program through TAMC.

Council questions and public process: Council members asked how collision data is obtained and validated; Croghan said local police input is used and that the collision records are publicly accessible and analyzed through university and state systems. He described two community outreach events and a mailed/online survey (about 400 mailed, roughly 90 online responses) that were used to “gut check” priorities and solicit public concerns. The technical advisory committee met twice to review analysis and draft recommendations.

Council members asked about specific neighborhoods (San Pablo, Baker) and whether the LRSP addresses residential non‑injury crashes; Croghan said the plan focuses on injury/fatal crashes but that traffic-calming tools and the city’s traffic-calming program remain available for resident concerns in those neighborhoods. Council also discussed emerging technologies such as AI-driven signal control and the plan’s ability to recommend pilot deployments and cross-jurisdictional coordination.

What’s next: staff said the LRSP will be posted on the city website and the Public Works Department will begin incorporating recommended countermeasures into upcoming projects and seeking funding for the identified emphasis areas.

Ending: the LRSP provides Seaside with a prioritized set of safety interventions and positions the city to pursue state and federal roadway-safety grants; staff recommended moving forward with project-level design and grant pursuit for the priority locations.