The San Diego City Council could Monday voted Monday to take a major step to reduce speed limits on roads throughout the city in order to meet its “Vision Zero” goal.
Around 20% of the roads in San Diego will see a speed limit reduction in the next fiscal year, following the unanimous vote. It is hoped that the move will help eliminate traffic fatalities and serious injuries.
The strategy, part of the Comprehensive Speed Management Plan approved by the council’s Active Transportation and Infrastructure Committee in February, uses a “data-driven, city-wide approach to lower speed limits across San Diego’s neighborhoods, commercial corridors, and school zones,” a statement from the city said.
“Every San Diegan deserves to feel safe walking, biking or driving in their community,” said council member and Committee Chair Stephen Whitburn. “This plan provides a clear roadmap to reduce dangerous speeds, protect lives, and build streets that work for everyone.”
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Transportation awarded San Diego $680,000 through the Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program, intended to bolster Vision Zero efforts to reducing crashes through safer street design, slower speeds, equitable access improvements, and community engagement.
One of the initiatives funded was the Comprehensive Speed Management Plan.
The city maintains 3,185 centerline miles — the length of a road not counting extra lanes — of public streets, with another 842 under the purview of the city’s engineering and traffic survey network
State law mandates speed limits posted above 25 mph require an engineering and traffic survey, which entails measuring the 85th percentile speed — essentially the speed most motorists are already traveling. But that process doesn’t account for streets with higher safety risks such as school zones, areas with heavy bicyclist and pedestrian traffic and commercial zones, officials said.
Several new laws passed in Sacramento give cities greater flexibility to determine appropriate speeds rather than defaulting to 25 mph. Corridors with higher comparative fatal or serious injury crashes can see 5 mph reductions, as can areas with high pedestrian and bicyclist activity.
Business districts can be reduced to 25 or 20 mph and school zones can reduce speeds to 15 mph or 20 mph within 500 feet of schools, and 25 mph between 501 and 1,000 feet on qualifying nearby approach streets.
With these new permissions from the state, the city found more than 20% of its roads — 679.1 miles — are candidates for slower speeds.
These include:
189.6 centerline miles eligible as crash-heavy safety corridors; 32.6 centerline miles eligible as high a pedestrian and bicyclist activity corridors; 58.7 centerline miles eligible as business activity districts; 371.1 centerline miles eligible for school zone speeds (15 or 20 mph); and 27.1 centerline miles eligible for school approach speeds (25 mph).The plan could go into effect next fiscal year, depending on funding through the city’s annual budget process.
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