San Bruno council discusses traffic safety improvements amid budget constraints

“Interestingly, right before we had our initiative session, there were a series of accidents that were very noticeable in the community,” he said. “Those incidents were top of mind when we were discussing this.”

Police Chief Matt Lethin presented a variety of options to the council on dealing with traffic safety in a more comprehensive way, including one $15 million plan that would include capital investment for safety improvements, three new staff members, a traffic calming program and new technology.

“We knew that was way out of our budget,” Councilmember Marty Medina said of that plan. “What is the best solution for our money?”

A combination of engineering, enforcement and education is typically required to get drivers to make more safe choices on the roads, particularly when it comes to San Bruno’s concerns like speeding and running stop signs, Lethin said.

The city can continue to make slow and steady progress on its road safety upgrades for no additional money, Lethin said, which have included improvements on San Bruno and Cherry avenues, an upgraded pedestrian and bike corridor on San Antonio and Huntington avenues and upcoming work at Bay Hill Drive and El Camino Real intersection.

Continuing along that path may be most prudent for the city given its resource constraints, Councilmember Tom Hamilton said, though, he did add that he’d potentially be supportive of investing in a public message board as an information tool so residents could see the steps the city is taking.

“Making the investment of the public dashboard would be helpful for that … to see improvement,” he said.

Lethin broached a variety of technology in which San Bruno could ostensibly invest, including the message board, surveillance cameras, lighting trailers and streetlights, if the city wanted to bolster safety enforcement.

He emphasized that there would likely be more return on investment in terms of tangible change to focus on traffic, rather than crime, since the city did not have noticeable criminal hot spots.

“Thankfully, here in San Bruno, we don’t have what we would consider traditional crime hot spots when compared to other cities,” he said.