San Bernardino receives nearly $5.3M to improve traffic safety

San Bernardino has received a $5.28 million federal grant to construct safety improvements at locations with high traffic collision rates in the city, officials announced last week.

The funding is from the Safe Streets and Roads for All program via the U.S. Department of Transportation.

“San Bernardino is working hard not only to pave our streets, but to make them safer for drivers, cyclists, and pedestrians,” Mayor Helen Tran said in a statement. “This grant will make a huge difference at five locations that have a history of accidents and injuries.”

The city’s “Revitalizing Roadway Safety in San Bernardino” proposal identified five locations with high collision rates, a high rate of traffic-related fatalities or serious injuries or are near schools and residential neighborhoods.

The five locations are:

• The intersection of Highland Avenue and Eucalyptus Drive;
• Ninth Street between Waterman Avenue and Del Rosa Avenue;
• 30th Street from San Gabriel Street to Cedar Street;
• Meridian Avenue from Etiwanda Street to Rialto Avenue; and
• Kendall Drive between University Parkway and H Street.

“Ensuring the safety of San Bernardino’s public roads and sidewalks is crucial for our community’s quality of life,” Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-San Bernardino, said in a statement. “I am grateful to the U.S. Department of Transportation for providing this much-needed funding, which marks a crucial step towards building a more secure and connected community.”

City officials said the project includes safety strategies that attempt to curb the most common types of crashes, such as broadside, rear-end and vehicle/pedestrian collisions. Speeding, right-of-way violations and unsafe turning are most often the cause of such crashes.

The project will include traffic signals, high-visibility crosswalks, curb extensions, improved sidewalk connectivity, pedestrian refuge islands, buffered bike lanes, curb ramps that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, speed limit reductions, and other measures aimed at calming traffic, officials said.

“To determine the street segments with the highest need for safety improvements, the city developed a Local Roadway Safety Plan using the California Highway Patrol’s traffic records system for the five-year period between 2016 and 2020,” according to a city statement. “A total of 8,855 traffic collisions took place in the city during that time frame. The intersections and street segments with the most collisions were chosen for this project.

“The analysis found that a section of Kendall Drive between University Parkway and H Street had the most traffic accidents during the five-year period with a total of 154 traffic collisions including nine with severe injuries or fatalities,” the statement said.

The Safe Streets and Roads for All program funds regional, local and tribal initiatives through grants aimed to help prevent roadway deaths and severe injuries. The program was established under the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2022.

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