The City of Sacramento is going to consider some big, transformative projects Tuesday evening. That’s great. But let’s not forget all the small things they could be doing, but aren’t:

• Mark crosswalks at every intersection. Except in purely residential neighborhoods, these should be zebra design.
• Daylight intersections by removing parking from within 15 feet of every crosswalk, at least on the near side (far side is a lesser safety benefit)
• Re-program traffic signals to create leading pedestrian intervals, everywhere.
• Remove or properly label every pedestrian push button. Don’t make walkers play the guessing game. Except at very low use intersections, pedestrian signals should be on auto-recall.
• Remove pedestrian prohibitions which serve traffic flow rather than safety of walkers. This is the majority of them.
• Install traffic diverters (modal filters) on about one-quarter of all streets, at no less than 1/8 mile intervals. This discourages through-traffic on most streets, and discourages longer driving trips, while being permeable to bicyclists and walkers.
• Charge for all street parking, everywhere, even in residential neighborhoods.
• Reduce speed limits to 20 mph, citywide and all at once, on every street that is not an arterial or collector street.
• Ensure that every construction project that reconstructs sidewalks also installs curb extensions (bulb-outs) where there is a parking lane present. This is not uniformly happening.
• Create interim curb extensions with paint and flexible posts.
• Take on responsibility for maintaining sidewalks, since they are an integral part of the transportation network.
• Buy every employee of Public Works and Community Development a copy of Walkable City Rules (Jeff Speck), and hold sessions to develop a new city mission that prioritizes walkers (and bicyclists and transit riders) over private vehicles.