Jackie Krentzman is a Bay Area-based writer and editor.  

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This year marks the third consecutive year that cities have swept the Outstanding Local Streets and Roads Project Awards, a friendly competition between cities and counties. The awards highlight local government projects that demonstrate innovation and cost efficiency while protecting long-term investments in California’s streets, roads, and bridges.

San Ramon’s new gateway to downtown increases pedestrian and bicyclist safety

San Ramon’s new bicycle and pedestrian overcrossing was the Overall Winner at this year’s awards. The dedicated bike and pedestrian crossing, which completes a link in a 30-mile regional trial, is an excellent example of the power of collaboration.

“Before it was like crossing a freeway with four lanes in each direction,” says Director of Public Works Brian Bornstein. “This project improves safety by eliminating conflicts between pedestrians and cyclists on the regional trail and vehicles on a high-volume roadway, while at the same time featuring an aesthetically pleasing, signature cable-stay bridge structure as a gateway into the heart of San Ramon downtown and city hall.”

The city completed the $29 million overcrossing under budget and earlier than anticipated. San Ramon provided less than 20% of the cost thanks to a diverse group of regional, state, and federal partners.

First envisioned nearly 20 years ago, the overcrossing not only lowers the risk of accidents, but also curbs greenhouse emissions by removing over two hours a day of idle time at the signal: Pedestrians/cyclists and drivers no longer wait on each other to stop to continue their journeys.

The bridge also includes over 7,000 native and drought-tolerant plants and 80 trees, along with new community gathering spaces enhanced by architectural lighting.

The impact of the new overcrossing was immediate, says City Engineer Rod Wui. For example, the overcrossing is near a middle school and a high school, so parents are now more comfortable letting their kids ride to school.

“We noticed an uptick in ridership and trail usage, and bicyclists reporting that since they no longer have to deal with the stressful at-grade crosswalk, they are more comfortable riding the Iron Horse Trail,” says Wui.

San Ramon is just getting started. Currently, the city is in the design phase of a similar project at Crow Canyon Road, with others potentially in the works.

Atascadero unifies its downtown and improves safety

For decades, a 100-year-old historic highway split downtown Atascadero in two. This bifurcation made the road challenging to cross and inhibited economic activity.

The city’s recently completed El Camino Real Downtown Infrastructure Enhancement Plan solved both problems, earning it the Efficient and Sustainable Road Maintenance, Construction, and Reconstruction Projects award. The $12 million project reduced the number of vehicle lanes, added parking, landscaping, and lighting, created more space for events in the street center, enhanced bicycle facilities on the road, and provided safer pedestrian crossings.

“It has been a phenomenal transformation,” says Ryan Hayes, deputy director/engineering & utilities manager. “Before, there was 80 feet of asphalt separating the street, with five lanes of traffic. We have three schools in and near the downtown area, so there were always a number of kids, pedestrians, [and] cyclists, trying to navigate what felt like an old highway, with high traffic speeds. The safety has improved exponentially.”

Hayes credits city leadership and the community, especially downtown business owners, for the project’s success. No business had to close during the yearlong construction process. “People are inherently resistant to change, and this wasn’t a little change around edges,” he says. “The city made it a priority to reach out to businesses and worked with the contractor to minimize impacts; we were impressed by how the downtown business community made it work, given that a year of construction is very challenging.”

West Sacramento leverages new technology to upgrade crosswalks

To help reduce collisions and increase driver visibility, West Sacramento added four new crosswalks and enhanced six others with state-of-the-art technology. These enhancements earned it the top award in the Safety or Intelligent Transportation System Projects category.

“We had some outdated signal hardware and wanted to take advantage of the latest technology in the field,” says Assistant City Engineer Kevin Tan.

The $3 million in improvements, funded by federal and city money, includes four new midblock crosswalks with pedestrian crossing buttons that light up the crosswalk. That same technology was installed at several existing crosswalks in high-traffic corridors and school zones. The city also installed a system that overrides signals so emergency vehicles can go through intersections safely and quickly.

The project was in response to a safety analysis the city conducted in 2018. The analysis identified a number of corridors and intersections considered higher safety risks for motor vehicles and pedestrians.

“These new fancy, mid-block crossings are able to identify and count usage and are showing many people are activating the new system,” Tan says. “Over time, this will have a strong impact on safety metrics.”

Other Award Winners

Sharing the limelight this year with cities was Placer County, whose Fanny Bridge Community Revitalization Project added a new bypass crossing the Truckee River with roundabouts, wider sidewalks and bike lanes, and activated pedestrian crossing signals.

San Francisco and Nevada County shared the Complete Streets Projects award. San Francisco transformed a street into a multimodal corridor that improves pedestrian safety by widening sidewalks and installing new curb bulb-outs and traffic signals, along with new street and crosswalk striping. Nevada County completed a concrete trail for non-vehicular use near several schools, shopping centers, and a new library.

San Diego County received an award for its “Road to 70” project. Over the last eight years, the county resurfaced 900 miles of roads, improved 366 culverts, and added over 2,200 ramps, among other upgrades.

The cities of Roseville, American Canyon, Costa Mesa, Santa Rosa, Pittsburg, and Beaumont, as well as the counties of San Diego, Sonoma, Yuba, Ventura, and Contra Costa, received honorable mentions.

The Outstanding Local Streets and Roads Project Awards are sponsored by the League of California Cities, County Engineers Association of California, and California State Association of Counties. Visit Save California Streets to learn more about each project.