Focus Cities 2020: Ped & Bike Counts in Santa Ana & Upcoming Webinar!
We’re officially entering our fourth year of the Focus Cities program! Over the last three years, Cal Walks and UC Berkeley SafeTREC have offered walking and biking safety technical assistance to municipal agencies and non-profit organizations that operate in one of the seven Focus Cities - Bakersfield, Fresno, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Ana.*
One of the last in-person trainings we did before the statewide stay-at-home order was a pedestrian and bike counts workshop for Latino Health Access (LHA) staff and volunteers in Santa Ana. LHA partners with communities to bring health, equity and sustainable change through education, and civic participation, and is also a member organization of Santa Ana Active Streets. We conducted counts at key intersections near Nova Charter Academy, Heninger Elementary School, and Santa Ana High School to promote Safe Routes to School in the City. The three schools were selected because they are in downtown Santa Ana, a highly populated neighborhood that has seen rapid changes in community demographics, and increased real estate prices due to gentrification.
The two-hour counts training occurred during peak hours, school dismissal, and in three separate locations. Among the largest reported counts were near Santa Ana High School, with 91 pedestrians on South Flower Street, between West Walnut Street and West Pine Street from 2:40 PM - 2:55 PM. However, the largest counts came near Nova Charter Academy from North Ross Street, between West 3rd Street and West 4th Street, where a total of 141 pedestrians were observed from 2:40 PM - 3:10 PM!
The counts will be used to strengthen Santa Ana’s Safe Routes to School efforts, and will support the City’s Safe Mobility Santa Ana Vision Zero Plan. Project #3 of the plan includes a reconfiguration of East 1st Street to include a center turning lane and a protected bike lane, which will directly impact both Santa Ana High School and Heninger Elementary School families who walk and bike to school. Additionally, counts can also support Project #21 of the Santa Ana Active Transportation Plan. Under this project on West Walnut Street, high-visibility crosswalks are to be installed at West Walnut Street and South Flower Street, next to Santa Ana High School. This project would also add high-visibility crosswalks at West Walnut Street and South Ross Street, South Birch Street, and South Broadway, next to Heninger Elementary School. City staff plan to submit grant proposals, primarily the statewide Active Transportation Program, to finance some of these projects. LHA will continue to partner with the City of Santa Ana and Cal Walks to further champion Safe Routes to School.
LHA staff reviewing their pedestrian and bike counts.
LHA staff and volunteers getting ready to conduct pedestrian and bike counts at key downtown Santa Ana intersections.
Through our Focus Cities program this year, we are subcontracting with Bike Bakersfield in Bakersfield, People for Mobility Justice in Los Angeles, Walk SF in San Francisco, and KidWorks in Santa Ana to elevate their local walking and biking safety work.
Coming up, Cal Walks, KidWorks, and People for Mobility Justice will host “Sharing Stories and Strategies: A Panel and Discussion Webinar About COVID-19 Challenges”, a 1-hour webinar on Tuesday, May 12th from 10 a.m. - 11 a.m. to discuss our collective challenges and concerns about active transportation safety and service delivery amid COVID-19. Click here to register for the webinar, and here to submit your responses to our discussion questions prior to the webinar. We hope to see and hear from you on May 12th!
*If you’re an agency or non-profit organization that operates in one of the seven Focus Cities, and are interested in partnering with us, check out our technical assistance menu and reach out to Caro Jauregui at caro@calwalks.org. We are actively looking for ways to support our local partners during COVID-19.