SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Ten years ago, the City of San Diego made an ambitious pledge called Vision Zero, with the goal of the pledge to reach zero pedestrian deaths.
A new report released on Tuesday from the local policy group Circulate San Diego found there were 37 pedestrian and bicyclist deaths last year.
Back in 2014, a year before the city signed onto the initiative, there were only 25.
While the city is missing the mark and is going backward from the ultimate goal, the report says San Diego's numbers are lower than the national rate.
Circulate San Diego is crediting the city's efforts to create safer roads such as adopting more quick-build programs, adding roundabouts, adding stop signs, and making crosswalks easier to see.
In simple terms, the city is doing a good job, but what it is doing is not good enough. One way the city is falling short on this is the timeline of projects.
One example of an extended timeline is the construction project on University Avenue in City Heights.
University Avenue is one of the areas the city is trying to improve as a part of the Vision Zero initiative because the intersection of University Avenue and 44th Street is considered one of the 15 deadliest intersections in the City of San Diego.
ABC 10News has been following the progress of the construction since last October. In previous reporting, the city says construction is "approximately 60% complete and is expected to be substantially completed by the end of the year."
Now looking at the city's website, that construction project is not expected to be completed until early 2025. The author of Circulate San Diego's report, Will Moore, says that regardless of the type of project, whether it be a quick-build or more extensive project, the city needs to work faster.
"I think the voters, the citizens are tired of these two-year timeframes to make a plan that's going to do something in 2040," Moore said. "What we find is that there are a lot of different ways to do [quick builds], but when we do even the more complex non-quick-build projects we need to shorten our planning timelines and shorten our construction timelines."
Some of the solutions the report outlined are streamlining construction projects and adding more safety technology like red light and bus cameras to monitor roads. According to the city's budget, $33.2 million is going to be allocated to the Vision Zero Initiative next year. However, Moore says the city needs to allocate more resources to the projects.
UPDATE:
The City of San Diego and Mayor Todd Gloria sent ABC10 News a statement responding to the report.
Safety is the City's primary concern regarding mobility and the work to create safer streets for all users, especially the most vulnerable, is constant. The City of San Diego has been a leader in identifying systemic safety as a key element of our Vision Zero efforts.
Systemic safety involves implementing safety measures that account for human error and injury tolerance. This includes enhancing separation and visibility, reducing user speeds through thoughtful road design and environmental modifications, minimizing conflicts at intersections.
For example, the intersection and site of today's Circulate San Diego press conference, 44th Street and University Avenue, will be upgraded to a raised median and new HAWK crossing. One block east of 44th on University, the City is constructing three roundabouts as part of the University Avenue Complete Street project, and nearby 43rd Street received a bike lane after being recently resurfaced.
The City agrees with Circulate’s report findings that “substantial room for improvement remains…with a commitment of substantial financial resources” (pg. 16) to accomplish our Vision Zero goal.
"Mayor Gloria’s first four budgets invested tens of millions of dollars in making our streets and pedestrian infrastructure safer and more accessible for all travelers, including pedestrians and cyclists. His first four budgets created a total of 385 miles of bike lanes, including 101 miles of Class IV (separated) lanes. This is well over double the 168 miles of lanes created in the four years prior.
The quality of our infrastructure will remain a priority in coming budgets, and we’ll continue to work with partners like Circulate to make our streets safer."
