Watsonville Looking for Safety Measures on Freedom Boulevard

WATSONVILLE, Calif. (KION) -- The city of Watsonville is launching a corridor study to increase traffic safety on Freedom Boulevard by asking for the community's input.

It's all part of a Vision Zero project the city approved back in 2021, hoping to reduce preventable traffic deaths in the city to zero.

The project identified 5 different roads in the city as problem spots, but the in-depth study is being done on Freedom Boulevard due to the large number of crashes that have been reported on the street in recent years.

The city says that between 2019 and 2023, 109 traffic collisions on Freedom Boulevard caused non-severe injuries, while 9 crashes resulted in severe injuries or death.

The city has identified the main problems causing these collisions as right-of-way violations, unsafe speeds, DUI, Pedestrian violations, and improper turning.

They also noted that 15% of the crashes involved bicycles, while 10% of them involved pedestrians.

Now the city is asking for the community's input on what they think are the biggest obstacles to traffic safety on Freedom Boulevard. You have until August to submit the problems you see on the road as well as proposed solutions to keep everyone safer.

One local that we spoke with said that there's a major speeding problem on the road, suggesting that speed cameras could get people to slow down.