Seal Beach wants to make its roads safer
LW- and LW-adjacent roadways could receive state and federal funding for improvements.
by Ruth Osborn
Communications Director
The City of Seal Beach recently adopted a Safety Action Plan that will pave the way for federal dollars to improve intersections that have the most accidents in the city, including several intersections and road segments in and around Leisure World.
The federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law established a Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) grant program, which supports local initiatives to prevent death and serious injury on roads and streets.
To that end, $5 billion has been appropriated to be spent over five years on regional, local and tribal safety initiatives through grants.
As part of the Safety Action Plan, Seal Beach identified intersections with the most traffic accidents in the city, including the intersection at Golden Rain Road and St. Andrews Drive, which is now undergoing a major safety overhaul.
According to a staff report by Seal Beach Deputy Director of Public Works/City Engineer Kathryne Cho, the other intersections proximate to LW include:
• Seal Beach Boulevard and North Gate Road/I-405 onand off-ramps
• Seal Beach Boulevard and Golden Rain Road
The City of Seal Beach identifi ed the top 15 intersections and road segments with the most traffi c collisions in Seal Beach, some which are located in Leisure World (in red) and along adjacent Seal Beach Boulevard.
LW's only four-way intersection: Golden Rain Road and St. Andrews Drive • Seal Beach Boulevard and St. Andrews Drive Identified road segments near LW include:
•Seal Beach Boulevard between St. Andrews Drive and Westminster Avenue
• Seal Beach Boulevard between Old Ranch Parkway and St. Andrews Drive (in three designated segments).
The total construction cost, including contingencies, for all 25 identified high risk intersections and road segments is $5.4 million.
In June 2023, the city council approved an agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation to help Seal Beach develop a safety action plan. As part of that agreement, the council accepted a $200,000 grant and approved matching funds up to $50,000 for the project, according to Cho’s report.
In January 2024, the city council contracted with Minagar & Associates, Inc., to prepare the plan.
Minagar analyzed five years of traffic collision data between 2019-2023 from the Seal Beach Police Department, Statewide Integrated Traffic Records System and UC Berkeley’s Transportation Injury Mapping System to identify collision patterns throughout the city.
In addition to the collision data, the project team solicited input from the city council, held town halls and consulted with specific stakeholders, including the Golden Rain Foundation, Seal Beach Police Department and the Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach.
The project team considered safety for all modes of transportation, including pedestrian and bicycle traffic safety upgrades with the goal to eliminate trafficrelated fatalities and serious injuries by 2040, according to the city’s staff report.
With the approval of the Safety Action Plan, staff will now apply for state and federal funding.
Multiple segements along SealBeach Boulevard were identifi ed in the city's safety action plan.
