Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Traffic Safety topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
West Covina wins $4.7 million HSIP grant to upgrade signal and pedestrian equipment at dozens of intersections
Summary
The City of West Covina has been awarded roughly $4.7 million in federal HSIP funds to upgrade traffic-signal hardware and pedestrian timing at dozens of intersections; the city must provide a 10 percent local match and expects design and procurement to take many months.
The City of West Covina was awarded about $4.7 million in federal Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) funds, city engineers told the council on April 1, to replace traffic-signal hardware, add pedestrian-safety timing and provide protected left-turn phasing at multiple intersections.
City Engineer Michael Lloyd said the city must provide a roughly 10 percent match — approximately $500,000 — and that the total project cost is about $5.2 million. The grant covers countermeasures at roughly 60 locations; the city earlier received HSIP Cycle 10 funds for 10 intersections and the two cycles together will reach about 74 intersections, Lloyd said.
“An adopted local roadway safety plan is required to be eligible to submit for HSIP funding,” Lloyd told the council, adding the city’s plan was adopted in 2022. He said the application is competitive; West Covina received the 11th‑largest award among cycle 12 recipients.
Lloyd outlined next steps: Caltrans must authorize preliminary engineering, the city will prepare an RFP for design consultants, and signal poles and some equipment are long‑lead items that may take five to six months for delivery. He said the expected construction completion date for the HSIP cycle 10 work currently under construction is late 2026, and that the new cycle will follow the federal and Caltrans submittal, approval and bidding process.
Several council members asked about specific intersections and the timeline for upgrades. Lloyd said particular intersections, including one raised by Councilman Cantos, will receive upgraded signal heads, pedestrian timing known as leading pedestrian intervals, and protected left-turn phases where warranted. Lloyd cautioned that the Caltrans approval and procurement process will lengthen the timeline, and asked the council to expect an 18–24 month process before construction begins on the new cycle.
The grant requires that projects demonstrate a benefit‑to‑cost ratio above program thresholds; Lloyd said HSIP quantifies safety benefits for collisions prevented compared with project costs to compute that metric.
City staff said they will return with design agreements for council consideration before beginning construction procurement.
