Recommend seeking state safety grants, including Frederick St and La Fonda Ave bike lanes

In plain English

City Public Works staff want the Transportation and Public Works Commission to recommend that the City Council apply for, accept and spend money from the state's Highway Safety Improvement Program (Cycle 13) for three road safety projects. They are: Class 2 bike lanes on Frederick Street between Soquel Avenue and Broadway plus a two-way separated bike lane on La Fonda Avenue between the Park Way Path and Harbor High School; a pedestrian scramble, new curb ramps, accessible pedestrian signals, restriping, "turn hardening" and school-zone speed signs at Broadway and Seabright Avenue; and a Soquel Avenue corridor project with a lane reduction and/or parking changes between River Street South and Branciforte Avenue to make room for separated bike facilities, coordinated signals to slow traffic, and new marked crossings at Doyle, Pennsylvania and Ocean View. A yes vote sends the recommendation to the City Council to pursue the grants.

If funded, these projects would change how people drive, park, bike and walk on Frederick Street, La Fonda Avenue, Broadway at Seabright Avenue and Soquel Avenue, including removing parking on one side of Frederick Street and possibly reducing lanes or parking on Soquel Avenue; students and families at Harbor High and Gault Elementary are among those directly affected.

Key facts

The two set-aside applications (Frederick/La Fonda bike lanes and Broadway/Seabright pedestrian crossing) each have a maximum funding request of $360,000.
The grant program pays 90% of project costs; the city's 10% local match would come from Gas Tax funds, with no impact to the General Fund.
A competitive Soquel Corridor benefit-cost project is expected to cost between two and four million dollars; if funded, design would begin in 2028 and construction in 2030.
Applications must have a minimum benefit/cost ratio of 3.5, and based on prior cycles a competitive project needs a score of at least 7, ideally over 10.
Two out of every three fatal or serious injury crashes within Santa Cruz city limits involved a person walking or biking.

Reasons to support

Broadway and Seabright Avenue is listed as a High Injury Intersection in the draft Safety Action Plan, both streets are on the priority network, and the project came out of extensive work with Gault Elementary School and the Slow Down Broadway group.
The Soquel Corridor is on the Priority Network in the draft Safety Action Plan and is a "High" priority in the Active Transportation Plan, and the project targets speed with a "green wave" signal progression, "no turn on red" signs and leading pedestrian intervals.
Students, faculty and parents from Harbor High specifically asked for a bidirectional separated bike lane on La Fonda Avenue during earlier outreach, and the grants would cover 90% of costs with the local share from Gas Tax rather than the General Fund.

Reasons to oppose or change it

Neither Frederick Street nor La Fonda Avenue is on the priority, high risk, or high injury network in the draft Safety Action Plan; Frederick ranked "medium" and La Fonda "low" in the Active Transportation Plan, so the money would go to lower-ranked locations than the plans identify as most dangerous.
The Frederick Street bike lanes would require removing parking on one side of the roadway, and the Soquel project could reduce a travel lane and/or modify parking between River Street South and Branciforte Avenue.
The Soquel project's design is not settled: the traffic operations analysis is not due until mid-October, elements may change to hit a competitive benefit/cost ratio, and staff are still exploring how to mitigate possible increases in intersection delay.

Official wording

HSIP Cycle 13 Grant Applications Motion to recommend that the City Council apply for, accept, and appropriate funds from the California Department of Transportation Highway Safety Improvement Program (HSIP) Cycle 13 for three projects: Frederick Street and La Fonda Avenue Bike Lanes Set-aside

Official agenda

Summary written by claude-opus-5 from the agenda and the Staff report (agenda packet, pages 19-22). It can contain mistakes. The official documents govern.