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Fremont adopts Safe Streets action plan, commits to zero roadway fatalities and seeks federal grant funding
Summary
The City Council unanimously adopted the Safe Streets for Fremont Safety Action Plan and authorized staff to apply for Safe Streets for All supplemental funding, committing to a goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2036 and prioritizing corridor and system-wide safety projects.
The Fremont City Council on May 12 adopted Resolution 2026-121, approving the Safe Streets for Fremont Safety Action Plan and endorsing a goal of zero roadway fatalities and serious injuries by 2036.
Anna Allen, the city engineer, presented the plan and said staff and consultants used five years of crash data and community outreach to identify priorities. “We are asking for Council to adopt the action plan this evening and commit to a goal of zero serious injuries and zero fatalities by the year 2036,” Allen said.
Consultant Zach Abrams of JEO summarized the data underpinning the plan: about 2,800 crashes occurred in Fremont from 2019 through 2023; roughly 40–45 of those were classified as killed-or-serious-injury crashes, with five fatalities in the period. The analysis identified 51 crashes involving vulnerable road users and concentrated KSI crashes on major arterials and uncontrolled intersections, particularly during Fridays between 3 p.m. and 6 p.m.
The plan uses a safety-index scoring method that combines crash history, roadway characteristics and community feedback to produce a list of priority corridors and intersections. Staff highlighted the top five corridors (Bell Street, 23rd Street, Military Avenue, Lincoln Avenue and Broad Street) and a menu of countermeasures drawn from Federal Highway Administration guidance, including crosswalk visibility enhancements, median pedestrian refuges and rectangular rapid-flashing beacons.
Allen said the plan also emphasizes systemwide strategies such as sidewalk-gap programs, safe routes to schools, traffic-safety education campaigns and policy changes (for example, complete-streets design standards) intended to institutionalize safety considerations in future projects.
Grant coordinator Angie Olson told the council the next step is to pursue supplemental Safe Streets for All (SS4A) funding to better define priority projects and build competitive implementation grant applications. “We would like to apply for that in order to better define some priority projects,” Olson said, adding that an adopted plan strengthens applications by demonstrating completed engagement and analysis.
Councilmembers thanked staff for the work and asked questions about prioritization and the risk of shifting focus from previously approved projects; staff said the plan is intended to be coordinated with existing projects and that many countermeasures are low-cost or policy changes that can be folded into planned work.
The council voted unanimously to adopt Resolution 2026-121 and later approved Resolution 2026-119 authorizing staff to apply for SS4A supplemental funding and authorizing the mayor to sign necessary grant documents. Both motions carried 7-0.
With the resolutions adopted, city staff said they will pursue supplemental grant funding and begin translating the plan’s prioritized measures into candidate projects for implementation and future grant applications.
