SafeTREC is offering free Complete Streets Safety Assessments (CSSA) to 16 California communities, including cities and public schools/colleges with a population greater than 2,500, all counties, and all Federally Recognized Tribes.
CSSAs are comprehensive transportation safety assessments that focus on pedestrian and bicycle safety. They help eligible communities identify and implement traffic safety solutions that lead to improved safety for all users of California’s roadways.
The CSSA program is funded by the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). Up until 2018, the program was coordinated by the Tech Transfer program at UC Berkeley.
The Complete Streets Safety Assessment (CSSA)
When a local agency or Tribe applies for a CSSA and is approved for a study, a team of safety experts in the fields of traffic engineering and planning are assigned to conduct the study for the community. The experts conduct a thorough phone interview with local agency or Tribal staff and then schedule a one-day in-person site visit to the area to be studied. They review available safety data such as Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System (SWITRS) and Office of Traffic Safety (OTS) rankings. Based on the available crash data and discussions with local agency or Tribal staff, a list of intersections and roadway segments/corridors with the highest rates of crashes is proposed for the assessment. The experts then visit the study areas to conduct an assessment in the field. The in-person site visit is conducted at various locations (focus areas), as determined in coordination with local agency or Tribal staff. The observations made during the site visit are used to suggest policies and physical improvements that could enhance motor vehicle, pedestrian, bicycle, and transit safety and accessibility. The experts then prepare a report summarizing their findings and suggestions. The suggestions made in the reports are all customized to each community and their needs.
CSSA in the City of Santa Cruz, CA.
The CSSAs help agencies in their planning for traffic safety projects. The suggestions could be included into Capital Improvement Projects and Pedestrian/Bicycle Master Plans. One other way the program helps local agencies and Tribes is by providing a tool for communication among departments within a local agency, as well as with neighboring cities, counties, Caltrans and other stakeholders, to discuss opportunities for enhancing safety for all users of public roadways. The CSSAs give agencies and Tribes a resource or a supporting document for applying for funding.
The 2024 CSSA Program
This year, the Complete Streets Safety Assessment (CSSA) Program will partner with the following communities throughout California to identify and implement traffic safety solutions that lead to improved safety for all users:
- Adelanto
- Big Pine Paiute Tribe of the Owens Valley
- Branham High School, San José
- Calabasas
- Capitola
- Colfax
- Contra Costa County
- CSU San Marcos
- Garden Acres
- Granite Bay
- Gridley
- Loleta
- Madera
- Menlo Park
- Pleasant Hill
- Redondo Beach
Applications are now closed for the 2024 CSSA Program. If you would like more information about the program, or have questions, please email safetrec@berkeley.edu.
CSSA Peer Exchange: Implementing Complete Streets Safety Assessment (CSSA) Improvements
- 2024 Peer Exchange: Funding and the Importance of Public Involvement in Implementing Suggestions. On July 16, 2024, Philip Soares, Traffic Engineer with the City of Modesto presented in the CSSA Peer Exchange. In this session, he shared his agency’s experiences implementing safety improvements as suggested in their CSSA report, the challenges they faced and how they overcame them, and how they used the final report to gain funding and engage the public. Access the CSSA Peer Exchange Summary for insights, learnings, and highlights shared from the discussion.
- 2023 Peer Exchanges: Implementing Complete Streets Safety Assessment (CSSA) Improvements. SafeTREC was excited to launch two online peer exchange sessions on July 25 and September 14, 2023 as part of the Complete Streets Safety Assessment (CSSA) program on how local agencies are successfully implementing complete streets safety improvements to make walking, biking and rolling safer in their communities. These peer exchanges were designed to support agencies as they work to implement safety improvements as suggested in their CSSA final reports.
Questions about the CSSA?
Please contact us at safetrec@berkeley.edu if would like more information about the CSSA program or have any questions.