DATE: June 2, 2026
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: Director of Public Works
SUBJECT
Title
Safe Streets Downtown Project (The Loop): Update and Recommendations
End
RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
That the City Council receive an update for the Safe Streets Downtown Project, receive public comments, provide feedback, and approves staff recommendations to move forward and develop concepts and cost estimates.
End
SUMMARY
In 2014, the Route 238 Corridor Improvement Project Phase 1 was completed that created a one-way loop street system in Downtown Hayward commonly referred to as The Loop. Since then, the Loop has been a source of serious concern for pedestrian safety and accessibility throughout downtown. In 2026, two fatal pedestrian collisions occurred on the Loop within a span of two weeks. On average, 1.5 people die or are seriously injured on the Loop every year.
The Safe Streets Downtown Plan (Project), a federal grant-funded planning project, has the goal of addressing these traffic safety concerns. The Project started in February 2025 and activities included background research, collection of traffic safety and operational data, technical analyses, and broad community outreach.
The Project’s Phase 1 Outreach started in May 2025 and was intended to understand the needs of the community. Details of the Phase 1 outreach are included as Attachment II. Phase 2 Outreach started in July 2025. One of the major events of the Phase 2 outreach was the community design charrette held on September 17, 2025, where participants had the opportunity to design the changes they wanted to see for the Loop. Almost all the ideas from those who attended the design charrette fit in a category of two visions, one that converted downtown into a grid layout and the other that kept a similar alignment to the Loop that is today but introduced major traffic calming measures and lane reductions.
Based on the feedback, the project team identified four options as candidates for further study and outreach. These options were: (1) Baseline Project, (2) Reconnecting the Grid, (3) Current Alignment with Place Focus, (4) Current Alignment with Movement Focus for Foothill Boulevard. Options 2 and 3 were generated by the community and stakeholders through the design charrette event. Feedback was received regarding the four proposed options from the Council Infrastructure and Airport Committee CIAC) at the October 22, 2025 meeting and two options were approved to move forward for further study and outreach. Those options, were Option 2 and 3, which were renamed and renumbered to Downtown Grid (Option 1) and Civic Ave. (Option 2). Both the Downtown Grid and Civic Ave. options would convert the Loop’s one-way street configuration to two-way.
The project team conducted a Traffic Operations and Diversion Analysis and continued the Phase 2 round of public outreach to gather feedback on participants’ preferences to the two options, as well as preferences on the future direction of B Street and C Street. The options proposed for feedback are shown in Attachment V. The online survey, the main method of gathering feedback, was open from January 26, 2026 to April 30, 2026. Methods of outreach to notify residents and business owners included contacting previous participants through the project’s email contact list, focus group meetings, social media, and the City’s Stack newsletter. In addition, utility bill inserts with directions to take the project survey were sent electronically or mailed to the City residents. A total of 350 survey responses were received. Details of Phase 2 outreach are included as Attachment III.
Staff recommendations were made after a thorough review of the technical analyses with consideration of feedback received from outreach efforts. The Civic Ave. option with a continuous D Street was advantageous because it provides similar pedestrian and bicycle safety benefits compared to the Downtown Grid option, but with significantly less congestion impacts. At many downtown intersections proposed with the Civic Ave option, the congestion difference is multiple magnitudes less than the Downtown Grid option, although both options do increase congestion in comparison to the existing configuration. For B Street, staff recommends the Two-Way option, with a possibility of a temporary pedestrian plaza to be explored further in the future after additional analysis and evaluation is conducted. Lastly, staff recommend proceeding with the C Street proposal that includes a two-way cycle track between Mission Boulevard and Foothill Boulevard. The recommendations are summarized on the table below.
|
|
Staff Recommendations |
|
Downtown Loop |
Civic Ave. Option |
|
D Street Option |
Continuous |
|
B Street |
Two-Way |
|
C Street |
Two-Way with Cycle Track between Mission Blvd. and Foothill Blvd. |
After receiving feedback and approval from City Council on the options to move forward with, the project team will work on developing a more detailed concept with a cost estimate. A third and last round of outreach will be conducted to receive feedback on the concept, with expectation to have a final concept and cost estimate presented to City Council for approval in Q1 2027.
The recommendation of the Civic Ave. option provides direction to the vision of the Safe Streets Downtown project, culminating from over a year’s worth of outreach and analysis. This direction will assist staff seek in seeking future funding for the project. There is still flexibility to evaluate different variations within this option and completing any other needed technical studies in future project phases. Staff would much appreciate City Council’s comments and feedback on the breadth and depth of the current public outreach before embarking on the much more involved, rigorous, and costly next steps.
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment I Staff Report
Attachment II Phase 1 Engagement Summary
Attachment III Phase 2 Engagement
Attachment IV Traffic Operations and Diversion Analysis
Attachment V Conceptual Options