San Bernardino will receive nearly $2.95 million from Caltrans to construct raised street medians on E Street, city officials announced Thursday.
The project is for a 3.5-mile stretch between Fairway Drive and 10th Street.
The grant funding to the city in partnership with Omnitrans, the county’s public transportation agency, is part of the state’s Local Highway Safety Improvement Program, or HSIP.
“This median project will directly improve vehicle, bus, and pedestrian safety along E Street in San Bernardino,” Mayor Helen Tran, an Omnitrans board member, said in a statement.
According to state accident data, the E Street corridor is high-risk for traffic mishaps.
The Federal Highway Administration recommends installing a raised median as an effective way of reducing vehicle crashes by about 25% and reducing pedestrian-related collisions by 36%. Raised medians physically separate opposing directions of traffic and restrict dangerous turns, both of which are common on E Street, officials said.
A similar project in 2019 along Hospitality Lane, between E Street and Waterman Avenue, provides a preview of the potential safety benefits for the proposed improvements on E Street, according to the city.
In the four years before the raised median on Hospitality Lane was installed, 42 collisions occurred with 21 resulting in injuries. In the first four years after the median’s installation, the number of collisions dropped to 23 with 12 causing injuries.
“The Hospitality Lane project clearly showed that adding a raised median to a high traffic corridor reduced the number of accidents,” Deputy Public Works Director and City Engineer Azzam Jabsheh said in a statement.
Officials expect the HSIP grant to cover about 90% of the $3.2 million cost to install the new medians, with the remaining $250,000 coming from voter-approved Measure I.
A timeline for the E Street safety improvement project has not been finalized, officials said. Prior to the start of construction, the city will seek input from local businesses, approve a final design, then solicit bids from builders and ultimately choose a contractor.
HSIP is a core federal-aid program with the purpose of achieving a significant reduction in traffic deaths and serious injuries on the nation’s public roads. The current round of funding was approved via the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act of 2021. California’s share of HSIP money is divided between state highways and local streets.
