Complete Streets Safety Assessment Program
SafeTREC offers free technical assistance to communities across California to make safe spaces for people to walk and bike. This year, the Complete Streets Safety Assessment program offers two unique tracks to better support communities’ safety needs.
These programs are free and available to communities across California. Specific eligibility varies by program and includes cities and public schools/colleges with a population greater than 2,500, all counties, and all Federally Recognized Tribes.
The CSSA started in 1998 as a general Traffic Safety Assessment and was coordinated out of UC Berkeley TechTransfer. Over the next 20 years, the program prioritized different safety areas including active transportation, specific geographies, or target populations. In 2019, the CSSA moved to SafeTREC in alignment with the program’s emphasis to improve safety for all road users. Safe Speed Limits was initially developed as a technical assistance resource and is now expanding as a pilot program in 2025.
Funding for this program is provided by a grant from the California Office of Traffic Safety (OTS), through the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
Not sure which program is right for you? Explore our flowchart or contact us at safetrec@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail).
Complete Streets Safety Assessment (CSSA)
The CSSA is a comprehensive transportation safety assessment that focuses on pedestrian and bicycle safety. The assessments help eligible communities identify and implement traffic safety solutions that lead to improved safety for all users of California’s roadways. By participating, your community will gain expert insights into designing and implementing traffic safety solutions that protect all road users.
This year, the CSSA will partner with 12 communities throughout California to identify and implement traffic safety solutions that lead to improved safety for all users.
Applications are now closed for the 2025 CSSA. If you would like more information about the program, or have questions, please contact us at safetrec@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail).
Our team will work in the following communities this year:
-
City of Bishop
-
City of Corona
-
City of McFarland
-
City of Riverside
-
City of Sonoma
-
City of Tustin
-
City of Wildomar
-
Contra Costa County
-
CSU Monterey Bay
-
El Cerrito/Richmond Annex
-
Millbrae
-
Pit River Tribe
Frequently Asked Questions
Safe Speed Limits Assessment (Safe Speed Limits)
The Safe Speed Limits Assessments (Safe Speed Limits) is a pilot program designed to enhance vulnerable road user safety by providing communities with technical assistance for context-sensitive speed limit setting in accordance with new California state laws. Guided by the Safe System Approach, this project builds off SafeTREC’s California Safe Speeds Toolkit, which details speed limit setting flexibilities under the existing California framework.
This year, Safe Speed Limits will partner with four California City or County implementing agencies (e.g., public works or transportation departments) to identify opportunities to modify speed limits and improve road safety for all road users.
Applications are now closed for the 2025 Safe Speed Limits. If you would like more information about the program, or have questions, please contact us at safetrec@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail).
Our team will work in the following communities this year:
-
City of Menifee
-
City of Napa
-
City of South San Francisco
-
City of Westminster
Frequently Asked Questions
Resources
-
California Safe Speeds Toolkit (2023): This toolkit is intended to help local jurisdictions across California set safer speed limits that accommodate all road users using Safe System principles. This toolkit consolidates key research on Safe Speeds, provides details on speed limit setting flexibilities under the existing California framework, highlights select speed limit setting case studies from cities across California, and points local jurisdictions toward next steps in pursuing safe speed limit setting.
-
Complete Streets and their effect on increasing safety for all road-users (2018): This research brief from UC Berkeley SafeTREC highlights the Complete Streets concept and its effect on increasing safety for pedestrians and bicyclists in communities.
-
A Technical Guide for Conducting Traffic Safety Assessments for California Communities (2015): This document describes the California Traffic Safety Assessments (TSA) process and provides guidelines for safety evaluators to conduct these assessments. It synthesizes best practices and research on traffic safety applications. This guidebook targets California Communities, but the methods described are applicable for other states.
-
A Technical Guide for Conducting Pedestrian Safety Assessments for California Communities (2013): Pedestrian Safety Assessments (PSAs) are one approach to improving pedestrian safety within California communities, because a PSA enables local agencies to systematically identify the issues and problems and effective remedial options. This document describes the California PSA process and provides guidelines for evaluators to conduct PSAs. While this book is targeted for application within California, the methods described are applicable outside California. Users of this guidebook outside California should substitute national or locally adopted standards, practices, or references as needed.
-
A Technical Guide for Conducting Bicycle Safety Assessments for California Communities (2014): Improving bicycle safety has become increasingly important to California communities, yet remains a challenge for many agencies to accomplish. A Bicycle Safety Assessment (BSA) helps identify safety concerns and offers suggestions for improvement. This document describes the California BSA process and provides guidelines for BSA evaluators to conduct BSAs. It synthesizes current best practices and research on bicycling safety and provides guidelines for bicycling safety applications tailored to meet the needs of local communities in California.
Questions about the CSSA Program?
Please contact us at safetrec@berkeley.edu(link sends e-mail) if you would like more information about the CSSA program or have any questions.