City leaders and community members had a discussion on traffic safety at the March 24 Hayward City Council meeting. Mayor Mark Salinas started the conversation by acknowledging the three women fatally struck by vehicles while walking on crosswalks last month.
“I want to express our sincere sympathies and our condolences to the families who are grieving today,” said Salinas. “When incidents like this happen, it’s a call for more than just words. It’s a call for improvement and it’s a call for action.”
Principal transportation engineer Byron Tang led a presentation about immediate solutions to high-injury networks and permanent solutions. One immediate solution is “quick-builds.” They are plastic barriers used to protect street corners, bike paths and to prevent parking in certain areas. Other quick fixes include yield symbols, signs that tell drivers they’re approaching a crosswalk, and “No Turn on Red” signs.
Tang said the changes have already been made to the highest-injury spot, which is Tennyson Road and Baldwin Street. One of the traffic deaths from last month happened at this intersection.
City staff is planning on applying for a federal grant that would help expedite street safety and lane improvements on Tennyson Road from Mission Boulevard to Ruus Road. Tang said ideally construction would start in 2028 or 2029. Tennyson Road is listed multiple times on the city’s highest-injury network list.
Members of the street safety group Bike Hayward reiterated their five demands and said they are glad the city is already implementing some of them. The demands can be viewed on the group’s website at bikehayward.org/ss4h.
Councilmember George Syrop’s staff direction is to review the Bike Hayward demands. “It’s the folks who are living in these neighborhoods that ride through them everyday, that I think really have an intimate understanding of the solutions that would work,” he said.
Other demands are to include lane narrowing (aka, “road diets”), intersection daylighting and spending Measure BB funds on protected bike lanes and enhanced crossings.
