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West Sacramento Sun

Sacramento Avenue Complete Street Plan

Oct 08, 2024 01:11PM ● By Angela Underwood

Pop-up audits, as seen here, were one way that city officials gathered information from the public, along with focus groups and online engagement. Photo courtesy of the City of West Sacramento


WEST SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - The power of a Post-it.

Dozens of tiny colored papers, corridor walk audits, pop-up workshops and community workshops are just a few ways that the city reached out to the public for the Sacramento Avenue Complete Street Plan.

Not to mention focus groups, online engagement and a draft plan for public review between May and June. 

Citizen opinions such as Caitlin Mueller’s help make up the long-awaited plan.

“I am a resident of the Lighthouse neighborhood and I just came across the complete street plan,” Mueller noted in her public comment. “I am so glad the city recognizes the need for improvements to Sacramento Avenue since my experience of the road is that it's old, worn, barren, hot and very unfriendly.”

The public hearing for the plan was Sept. 18. Before hearing even more about the plan, Community Development senior transportation planner Stephanie Chan detailed a specific complete street plan and funding from the 2021 Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG). 

“The grant allowed us to complete the Sacramento Avenue Complete Street Plan,” Chan said. “A complete street is a transportation planning policy and design approach for our streets to be accessible and safe and for all users, including pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users and motorists.”

Sacramento Avenue, a city-inherited roadway from the state and county, is a four-lane roadway with a center-left turn lane from Harbor to Jefferson Boulevards, which narrows to a two-lane arterial from Jefferson Boulevard to 5th Street.

Mueller concurred in her written comments that, with improvements, it is a complete street.

“I greatly appreciate the depth of research and thought put into the plan as well as the community engagement,” Mueller said. “I read through most of the comments on the interactive project map and I agree with many of them, based on my personal experience.”

In 2022, Chan explained how another Sacramento Area Council of Governments Green Means Go grant funded a non-transportation infrastructure study to develop in-fill housing opportunities along the C-Street corridor, supporting future development.

Additionally, the study determined if future development could be incorporated and coordinated with the Complete Street Improvements, that would cause less disturbance multiple times for residents along the way.

With various pictures, Chan showed the unideal current conditions, including bike lanes and sidewalk gaps across the corridor. Chan brought her point home with a picture of a person pushing a cart in a bicycle lane, not in an ideal condition.

However, new proposed concepts drew attention, with Councilwoman Verna Sulpizio-Hull saying the protected bike lanes looked “phenomenal.”

“I love roundabouts and I know a lot of people don't,” Sulpizio-Hull said of the type of intersection that provides many safety features.


Dozens of Post-it notes with the public's opinion on the Sacramento Avenue Complete Street Plan helped city officials know what the residents need. Photo courtesy of the City of West Sacramento


In an attempt to make use of the existing right of way, Chan said a roundabout is proposed at Harbor Boulevard and the beginnings of a sidewalk, with a one-way bike lane and eight-foot landscaping on each side.

Additional roundabouts are proposed on Jefferson as well. Also, a shared-use path is proposed for Elkhorn Road to “provide for pedestrian access, and a less stressful option for cyclists.

Vice-Mayor Dawnte Early said the plan has been coming for a “very, very, long time.”

“I am excited for our kids and for the families that live there as well,” Early said.

Ultimately, the proposed concepts “create an accessible Green Corridor, Community Streetscape and Multimodal Street themes,” Chan explained, detailing features with several pictures.

The estimated cost is $125 million.

Councilwoman Quirina Orozco said every time officials discuss spending funds from voter-approved measures, “it has to be what we tell the voters.”

But it's not just about keeping the promise; it's about improving areas with heavy impact fees, especially in older parts of the city.

“Seeing it come to the first step of fruition is incredible,” Orozco said.

Mayor Martha Guerrero mentioned the importance of parking and EV charging stations, how officials need to obtain grant funding for that, and other plan features.

“I am just trying to figure out what components we need for the future,” Guerrero said, noting while she hopes wide bicycle lanes are possible, it might be hard to integrate into the older part of the city.

“I just want to make sure as we are moving forward, we educate the community,” Guerrero said.

That could mean more Post-its.

“Let's start raising $125 million,” Verna-Sulpizio Hall said.