A Central Coast road that was ranked first for fatalities and severe injuries for pedestrians and bicyclists in Santa Barbara is at the cusp of a transformation to improve safety after a nearly decade-long effort to secure funding.
The Santa Barbara Transportation and Circulation Committee is nearing the start of construction on what has already been a decade-long process to transform 3.1 miles of Cliff Drive into an area that meets its Vision Zero criteria, aiming to eliminate all pedestrian and bicyclist injuries and fatalities by deprioritizing cars.
“Because it is a higher-speed roadway in our network, it actually ranks No. 1 for collisions resulting in severe and fatal injuries to pedestrian and cyclists in our city,” supervising transportation planner Jessica Grant told SFGATE.
The road used to be part of a highway owned by Caltrans, but in 2014, the city of Santa Barbara took control of the Cliff Drive corridor. In 2018, the city adopted a Vision Zero strategy. Plans for the corridor include four new traffic signals, 14 new crosswalks and various safety features, such as widened sidewalks, median refuge islands and new lighting…