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Santa Clara presents Vision 0 plan with $100M near-term package to cut traffic deaths
Summary
City staff outlined a Vision 0 draft plan that targets eliminating traffic fatalities and severe injuries by 2050, highlights pedestrian and cyclist vulnerability, maps a High Injury Network, and proposes roughly $93M in capital projects plus program and staffing costs to start implementation.
Nicole Hee, senior engineer in Santa Clara's Public Works Department, presented a draft Vision 0 plan on Nov. 25 that aims to eliminate all traffic fatalities and severe injuries in the city by 2050. Hee told the City Council the plan grew from an eight-year collision analysis, community outreach with about 1,300 survey responses and multiple pop-up events, and consultant work by Kimley-Horn and Associates.
The study found about 190 KSI (killed-or-severely-injured) collisions across the eight-year period, consisting of roughly 51 fatalities and 139 severe injuries, and that pedestrians and cyclists account for about 35% of those KSI events even though they make up about 7% of all collisions. Hee said a High Injury Network of roughly 16% of city streets accounts for approximately 60% of collisions, and staff recommends prioritizing 10 corridors for near-term work, including Monroe Street and segments near Santa Clara University.
The plan groups countermeasures into engineering, intersection design, signs and markings, speed management, and bicycle and pedestrian improvements. Examples include road diets, protected left-turns, lead pedestrian intervals, closed slip lanes, retroreflective backplates, and curb extensions. Hee said the Vision 0 toolbox also includes education, enforcement, post-crash care and policy updates.
Staff provided a near-term cost estimate that breaks down to about $93 million for the top capital projects, $3.8 million for non-capital program costs (education, consultant services, dashboard), and roughly $3 million for five years of staffing (two additional public-works positions), bringing the current estimate to just under $100 million. Hee said the city expects to pursue state, federal, regional and local grant opportunities to fund much of the work and aims for final adoption in spring 2026.
Council members pressed staff on how Vision 0 funding fits with the city's climate action and transportation demand management goals, the measured effectiveness of quick-build treatments (bollards, speed humps), lighting and signage approaches, and whether automated enforcement such as red-light cameras would be considered. Hee and the city manager said staff will provide written follow-ups and post them on the Vision 0 project website.
The presentation and council discussion set the stage for the next steps: staff will finalize the action plan this December, return with responses to council and public questions, and bring the plan back for potential adoption and subsequent grant applications in spring 2026.
