Soledad advances street-safety work; youth council, MST and public works coordinate on projects and a large ATP bid

The Soledad City Council on April 1 received updates on several street-safety efforts, including a youth council initiative to paint sidewalks and produce bilingual crosswalk videos, and staff briefings on a citywide striping plan and an application for Active Transportation Program (ATP) Cycle 8.

Giovanni (speaker 9), representing the youth council, outlined upcoming work: a sidewalk painting event scheduled for April 4 in front of San Vicente Elementary School, street-safety videos focused on AB 413 and vandalism prevention, and a resume-building workshop the youth council will lead at the South County Youth Summit on May 2 in Gonzales. Council members praised the youth engagement and asked that professionals facilitate resume and email-writing workshops.

Alex Ramos (speaker 6), the city's engineering project manager, said staff is developing a citywide striping plan and coordinating with regional Vision Zero efforts and TAMC. He said the city is preparing an ATP Cycle 8 application for a large multimodal project with a preliminary threshold estimate near $26,000,000 and that the team is in data-gathering and coordination with regional partners.

Monterey Salinas Transit (MST) submitted a written comment urging that road improvements be compatible with transit operations and asked to be included as a stakeholder in the project's design process; MST requested a minimum lane width of 11 feet where buses operate. City staff agreed to invite MST into project meetings and to reference MST guidelines in designs.

Council asked staff to continue outreach (including social media) about major construction impacts near schools and busy corridors and to provide weekly updates on the large roadway project.