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Santa Monica council adopts revised Santa Monica Boulevard safety plan, orders quick-build protection at Chelsea crossing
Summary
The council adopted a revised Santa Monica Boulevard safety plan that narrows travel lanes, extends bus lanes and directs staff to seek quick-build protections at the Chelsea/McKinley school crossing before the next school year where feasible.
The Santa Monica City Council voted to adopt a revised safety study for Santa Monica Boulevard, directing staff to proceed with immediate striping, targeted bus-lane extensions and expedited fixes to improve safety near McKinley Elementary.
The plan, updated after months of community workshops, narrows some vehicle travel lanes to reduce speeding, outlines full-time bus lanes on key stretches coordinated with Westside COG funding, and adds pedestrian-recall signal timing (7 a.m.–10 p.m.) so walkers won't need to press crosswalk buttons at most intersections. Senior Transportation Planner Kyle Co told the council the study also identifies candidate locations for vertical-deflection features such as raised crosswalks and speed tables, and lays out phasing tied to the city's repaving work and the Olympic/Paralympic schedule.
Why it matters: Council members and community advocates framed the item around school safety and transit reliability. Parents and PTA representatives had pressed for stronger pedestrian hardware at the Chelsea/McKinley crossing; transportation staff said a full signal that can be coordinated with the corridor (not an isolated HAWK beacon) would give the timing and bike-signal features needed for safe multimodal crossings.
Council considered trade-offs between lower-cost rapid-flashing beacons and higher-cost HAWK/full-signal installations. "Where there are higher operating speeds and wider cross-sections, we should prioritize HAWK or full signal protection," Council Member Ellis Raskin said during deliberations. Several members also sought quick-build interim measures—paint, posts and temporary curb extensions—to stop hazardous left-turns and add safer pedestrian refuges ahead of permanent construction.
The council adopted a motion to: (1) implement phase‑1 measures including signal timing, turn restrictions and striping tied to scheduled repaving; (2) pursue grant funding for phase‑2 construction (ATP) and include more protective devices such as HAWKs for higher-risk crossings; and (3) direct staff to attempt quick-build changes at Chelsea before the next school year if feasible and safe. The vote was recorded by roll call and passed unanimously.
What comes next: Staff will begin rapid design and community outreach for the phase‑1 elements, apply for state Active Transportation Program funds for phase‑2, and return with design details. Council emphasized post‑installation monitoring and a before/after counts methodology for measuring safety outcomes.
The council's action follows months of public input and technical revision; staff said the goal is to complete the first set of repaving-linked striping and bus-lane work before the Games and to construct the Chelsea intersection improvements immediately after.
