Napa’s streets are undergoing their biggest safety makeover in years, with protected bike lanes, flashing crosswalks and narrower roads designed to slow traffic and better protect cyclists and pedestrians.

The most visible transformation is along Browns Valley Road and First Street west of Highway 29, where construction crews are finishing the city’s first parking-protected bike lanes. The new lanes run between the sidewalk and rows of parked cars, creating a physical buffer between cyclists and moving vehicles.

The $4.8 million project also includes flashing pedestrian crossings and narrowed traffic lanes meant to reduce vehicle speeds.

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At the intersection of First Street and Freeway Drive, Napa installed its first bike box in August — a green-painted zone that gives cyclists a head start in front of cars when turning left.

Public Works Director Julie Lucido said those changes target one of the city’s most collision-prone corridors. In the city’s 2022 Local Roadway Safety Plan, the Browns Valley-First Street stretch was listed on Napa’s “high-injury network” — streets with the highest rates of fatal or severe crashes. Over a five-year study period, that segment saw 20 injury collisions and one fatal or serious crash.

Lucido said excessive speed remains the leading factor in many of Napa’s severe collisions. The city is now designing its paving projects with safety as the central goal, adding traffic-calming features, flashing pedestrian crossings and multiple forms of bike lanes to reduce the risk and severity of crashes.

A network takes shape

The Browns Valley corridor joins a growing list of Napa roads being redesigned with cyclists in mind.

In 2023, Freeway Drive got the city’s first buffered bike lane, marked by a striped separation zone between riders and traffic. Then came the Imola Avenue Bridge, where Caltrans added flexible posts to form Napa’s first protected bike lane.

“Those are all ways to increase separation between vulnerable road users, bikes and pedestrians, and vehicle traffic, and that makes vulnerable road users safer,” said Kara Vernor, executive director of the Napa County Bicycle Coalition.

Vernor said Napa is catching up with other cities its size when it comes to building safer streets. The upgrades, long outlined in the city’s general and bicycle plans, are now finally becoming reality.

The Browns Valley upgrades, she said, connect key parts of Napa’s west side to the Highway 29 undercrossing, a paved path finished last year that links east and west Napa. A new curb cut now ties the corridor directly to that underpass route, giving riders a seamless way through.

Together, she said, those improvements are already drawing more cyclists.

Next up

City engineers are now designing upgrades for other high-injury corridors — Lincoln Avenue, Soscol Avenue, Jefferson Street and Trancas Street — aiming to build Napa’s first continuous east-west bike route.

“This will be the first one that really goes from high up west in Browns Valley all the way to Silverado Trail on the east side of town,” Vernor said.

The upcoming Lincoln Avenue rehabilitation project, expected to cost about $3.65 million, will include buffered bike lanes and two segments of parking-protected lanes — one near Napa High School and another north of the city’s Corporation Yard. The city is also considering a lane reduction from four to three, adding a two-way center turn lane that federal transportation data show can cut crash totals by up to 47%.

Those changes could make it easier and safer for students commuting by bike from west Napa to schools on the east side. The intersection of Jefferson Street and Lincoln Avenue, Vernor noted, is currently one of Napa’s worst spots for bicycle collisions.

“If we want students to be able to walk and ride to school, we have to make the roads safer,” she said.

Meanwhile, the city is assembling the Jefferson Street Complete Streets Improvement Plan, an 18-month effort to reimagine one of Napa’s busiest corridors with safer crosswalks, upgraded bike and transit facilities, and more inviting public spaces, according to Lucido.

Measure G money bolsters city paving efforts

Much of this work is possible thanks to Measure G, the local sales tax approved by voters to boost road and safety projects. The tax is expected to bring in $45.5 million over the next two fiscal years — with $13.35 million already earmarked for current public works projects, Lucido said.

This year, Measure G is helping pay for:

$1.5 million for citywide paving, covering 12 streets so far.$900,000 in sidewalk repairs, particularly north of downtown.$3.3 million for Westwood neighborhood paving and sidewalks.$150,000 for Coombs Street improvements.$2.5 million for California Boulevard paving.$3 million for Trancas Street paving.$2 million for Soscol Avenue paving.

Combined with countywide transportation measures T and U, the additional funding is speeding up long-planned road and infrastructure upgrades across Napa.