Aligning Danville’s Bicycle Master Plan with a Vision Zero Framework

January 19, 2026

Dear Tai Williams - Danville Town Manager,

Thank you for your continued leadership and for the progress made implementing Danville’s Bicycle Master Plan. Recent corridor improvements, intersection upgrades, and trail crossing enhancements demonstrate a sustained commitment to improving bicycling conditions in our community. These actions have increased visibility, connectivity, and overall network performance.

Executive Summary

Danville’s Bicycle Master Plan and a Vision Zero Plan serve distinct but complementary roles. The Bicycle Master Plan defines the bicycle network—identifying where people ride, how routes connect, and how bicycling fits within the broader transportation system. A Vision Zero Plan establishes the safety standard by committing the Town to eliminating traffic-related deaths and serious injuries and by requiring that streets be designed so inevitable human errors do not result in severe harm.

A Vision Zero Plan is a formal policy framework grounded in a Safe System approach. It recognizes that people will make mistakes and shifts responsibility from individual behavior alone to system design. Vehicle speeds, intersection geometry, lane configuration, and separation of modes are treated as primary safety tools. Performance is measured by reductions in serious injuries and fatalities rather than by project delivery alone.

When aligned, these two plans ensure that bicycle connectivity decisions are guided not only by travel demand, but by whether corridors and intersections are safe and survivable. The Bicycle Master Plan identifies priority routes and crossings, while Vision Zero evaluates whether conditions—such as traffic speed, volume, and turning movements—are compatible with bicycling and walking. This alignment is particularly important at intersections, where the majority of severe bicycle crashes occur, and as Danville manages the growing presence of e-bikes and other higher-speed mobility devices.

Aligning the Bicycle Master Plan with Vision Zero also ensures that designations such as bicycle boulevards function as genuinely low-stress environments through speed management and self-enforcing design. Together, the two plans provide both the physical blueprint and the policy accountability needed to deliver meaningful safety outcomes.

Clarifying the Distinct Roles of the Two Plans

As Danville considers next steps, it is important to clearly distinguish between the roles of a Bicycle Master Plan and a Vision Zero Plan, as the two serve different but complementary purposes.

A Vision Zero Plan is a formal safety policy framework that establishes a clear and measurable goal: eliminating traffic-related deaths and serious injuries. Unlike project-based or modal plans, Vision Zero does not focus on individual improvements in isolation. Instead, it defines the safety standard that guides all transportation decisions.

Vision Zero is grounded in a simple but critical principle: people will make mistakes, and the transportation system must be designed so those inevitable mistakes do not result in severe injury or death. This approach shifts responsibility from individual road users alone to the agencies that design, manage, and operate streets. Speed management, intersection design, lane configuration, and separation of travel modes become primary safety tools rather than secondary considerations.

A Vision Zero Plan typically establishes:

• A clear safety goal of zero deaths and serious injuries
• Performance measures focused on injury severity and risk
• A Safe System approach emphasizing predictable, forgiving, and survivable street design
• Accountability mechanisms to ensure safety outcomes—not convenience or legacy practices—guide decisions

Importantly, a Vision Zero Plan does not replace the Bicycle Master Plan. Instead, it provides the policy framework and accountability needed to ensure that bicycle investments deliver meaningful safety outcomes.

The Value of Alignment

With that distinction in mind, an updated Bicycle Master Plan and a Vision Zero Plan work best when aligned. The Bicycle Master Plan defines the network by identifying where people ride, how facilities connect, and how bicycling fits into the broader transportation system. Vision Zero defines the safety threshold by evaluating whether corridors and intersections are designed to be survivable given real-world speeds, volumes, and user behavior.

Under this approach, the Bicycle Master Plan may identify routes on corridors such as Diablo Road, Sycamore Valley Road, San Ramon Valley Boulevard, and Danville Boulevard, while Vision Zero evaluates whether vehicle speeds, traffic volumes, lane configurations, and turning movements on those corridors are compatible with the presence of cyclists and pedestrians. This alignment ensures that facility selection is driven by safety outcomes rather than striping or signage alone.

At intersections—where the majority of serious bicycle crashes occur—the relationship between the two plans is especially critical. The Bicycle Master Plan identifies priority crossings and junctions, while Vision Zero requires that those locations be redesigned to reduce both crash likelihood and severity. Protected intersection geometry, bicycle-specific signal phasing, leading bicycle intervals, and consistent daylighting shift safety responsibility from individual behavior to system design and make conflicts more predictable and forgiving.

This alignment is particularly important as Danville navigates the growing presence of e-bikes and throttle-controlled electric motorcycles. An updated Bicycle Master Plan can clarify where different types of devices are expected to operate and what facilities are intended to support them. Vision Zero ensures that these decisions are grounded in risk management by recognizing that higher speeds and greater vehicle mass require clearer policies, stricter controls, and design standards that reflect real operating conditions.

On residential bicycle boulevards such as Camino Ramon, Greenbrook Drive, and McCauley Road, alignment ensures that designation alone is not mistaken for safety. While the Bicycle Master Plan identifies these streets as preferred routes, Vision Zero requires that they function as genuinely low-stress environments through speed management, traffic calming, and self-enforcing design. This combination ensures that bicycle boulevards are safe for children, seniors, and everyday riders—not only experienced cyclists.

Regional Context

Vision Zero is now a well-established safety framework across the San Francisco Bay Area, adopted by jurisdictions of varying size and character. Cities that have formally adopted Vision Zero policies or action plans include San Francisco, San José, Oakland, Berkeley, Alameda, Fremont, Mountain View, Daly City, Santa Rosa, and Lafayette. These communities use Vision Zero to establish a clear safety standard—eliminating traffic-related deaths and serious injuries—and to guide roadway design, speed management, intersection treatments, and multimodal planning decisions. Regional agencies, including the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, actively support Vision Zero implementation through data tools, technical assistance, and policy guidance. Danville’s consideration of a Vision Zero framework would align the Town with established regional best practices and peer communities.

Recommendation

Vision Zero does not replace the Bicycle Master Plan; it strengthens it. Vision Zero provides the ethical framework, performance measures, and accountability needed to ensure that bicycle investments deliver real safety outcomes. The Bicycle Master Plan provides the physical blueprint for where and how those investments occur. Together, they align engineering, education, enforcement, and policy around a single shared goal: eliminating traffic-related serious injuries and fatalities.

In light of these considerations, I respectfully recommend that the Town of Danville adopt a Vision Zero policy and implementation framework to complement and strengthen an updated Bicycle Master Plan. Doing so would ensure that future bicycle investments are evaluated through a Safe System lens, that corridor and intersection designs reflect survivability rather than convenience, and that clear policy guidance exists for bicycles, e-bikes, and motorized devices on streets and trails.

Vision Zero is not a slogan; it is a disciplined policy framework that ensures transportation decisions are guided by safety outcomes rather than assumptions. By aligning an updated Bicycle Master Plan with a Vision Zero approach, Danville can move beyond incremental improvement and build a transportation system that is safer, more predictable, and more resilient for everyone who uses it.

Thank you for your consideration and for your continued commitment to creating a safer transportation system for all.

Alan Kalin, COL, USA (Ret.), President Mount Diablo Cyclists, Co- Chair Danville Safety Advocates, 2023 James Oberstar Award “Excellence in Bicycle Advocacy, ” 2023 California Outdoors Hall of Fame