Sacramento, California – Sacramento residents have been invited to help decide how the city gets its roadways, transit systems, and public areas ready for more severe weather. The Sacramento Transportation Infrastructure Adaptation Plan, or SacAdapt, has a new public draft that shows how local transportation networks could be made more resilient to better handle excessive heat, heavy rain, and flooding that already make travel difficult.
The City of Sacramento and the Sacramento Regional Transit District worked together to produce the draft plan. City officials say the goal is to make sure that roads, walkways, bike paths, bus stops, and light rail infrastructure stay safe and usable when the weather changes. The draft is up for public comment until February 12, which gives local residents another chance to have their say before the plan is approved.
SacAdapt is based on months of outreach that included surveys, pop-up events, and public forums throughout the city. During that time, locals talked about how bad weather makes ordinary trips harder, especially for people who walk, bike, or rely on public transportation. Many people said that it was hard to get around on sidewalks that weren’t shaded during long heat waves, on streets that were flooded after heavy rain, or in smoke conditions that made it hard or unsafe to be outside.
City staff say that feedback directly shaped the strategies outlined in the draft. According to Sarah Kolarik, a sustainability specialist with the Office of Climate Action and Sustainability, the plan reflects what residents said they need most to keep moving safely during extreme conditions.
“This draft reflects what we heard from residents about how extreme weather affects their daily travel and what adaptation strategies would make a real difference,” Kolarik said. “Public feedback at this stage is critical to make sure the plan is clear, practical and focused on the needs of Sacramento’s communities.”
One of the main goals of the draft is to lower the risk of being exposed to severe heat. Some of the suggested ways to do this are to add more trees and shade along important roads, make bus shelters better at keeping people out of the sun, and improve the materials and designs of transportation infrastructure so it can handle lengthy periods of high temperatures better. The goal of these adjustments is to make daily trips more comfortable and to prevent infrastructure from damage caused by heat.
The plan additionally addresses flooding and heavy rain, which have been happening more often and causing greater problems. Some of the strategies are to make stormwater drainage systems better and keep them that way, and to find roads, bike paths, and crossings that are more likely to flood. The city wants to cut down on closures and delays that can cut off neighborhoods or stop important services during storms by planning ahead for these trouble spots.
Another important topic is being ready for emergencies. The draft says that evacuation plans need to be clearer, transit systems need to have more reliable electricity, and local departments and transit operators need to work together better during severe storms. Officials believe that these steps are meant to make the transportation system work as well as possible when people need it the most.
The document not only lists general strategies, but also points out certain places where changes could make the biggest difference. These include bus stops and light rail stations that are most at risk from heat, as well as roads where flooding might make getting around very difficult. Comments from the public will help fine-tune these objectives and decide how to spend money in the future.
Once it’s finished, SacAdapt is expected to have an effect on transportation regulations, big projects, and requests for state and federal financing. People can see the draft and leave comments online through Konveio until February 12. City officials said that the comments they get now will be very important in deciding how Sacramento will change its transportation infrastructure to deal with climate change.