Santa Clara officials propose layered traffic-calming steps after neighborhood safety concerns

City of Santa Clara traffic staff presented preliminary traffic-calming recommendations on Oct. 30 and again at a follow-up community meeting to address resident complaints about speeding and safety in the South of Forest neighborhood.

The presentation, led by Ajmal Puiaghar, senior traffic engineer, outlined data collection from June 2024 and updated monitoring through December 2024, showed which streets met the city's neighborhood traffic-calming criteria, and proposed a mix of "level 1" passive measures and "quick-build" physical changes. "Harold Avenue was the only street that qualified for level 2 and level 3 traffic calming measures," Puiaghar said, while Cypress Avenue met the speed and volume thresholds but is treated as a primary emergency response route and therefore ineligible for higher-level measures without fire-department concurrence.

Why it matters

The neighborhood contains a park, a preschool and multiple residential streets that residents say are used as cut-throughs to avoid congestion on parallel arterials. Residents and parents told staff they fear for pedestrian safety at key intersections, particularly Harold and Forest, citing repeated collisions and limited sight lines.

What the city proposed

Steve Chan, Santa Clara transportation manager, and associate engineer Chase Levasseur described a three-tier toolkit the city uses to match measures to street conditions. Level 1 options include radar speed feedback signs, pavement messages and high-visibility crosswalks;…