CALIFORNIA — October 26, 2026. California transportation officials have announced two additional State Priority Safety Corridors, one in Fresno County and another in Los Angeles County, and reaffirmed the role of Pacific Coast Highway as the catalyst for a statewide program designed to reduce fatal and serious-injury traffic crashes.

California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin joined Caltrans, the California Highway Patrol, the Office of Traffic Safety, the Department of Motor Vehicles and local leaders in announcing the locations. The state says its interim target is a 30% reduction in fatal and serious-injury crashes by 2035, with a longer-term goal of eliminating such deaths and injuries by 2050. Those are policy goals, not forecasts that all crashes will disappear.

Where the designated corridors are

  • Millerton Road, Fresno County: approximately one mile between Millerton Lake State Recreation Area and the Table Mountain Rancheria tribal area. The state identifies this as the Central Valley’s first priority safety corridor.
  • West Manchester Avenue, Los Angeles County: 4.08 miles from South Van Ness Avenue to Compton Avenue, serving South Los Angeles and unincorporated Florence-Firestone.
  • Interstate 880, Alameda County: nearly 10 miles between Union City and San Leandro, designated the Bay Area’s first priority corridor in a separate announcement the preceding week.
  • Pacific Coast Highway: a 28.2-mile Catalyst Priority Safety Corridor from McClure Tunnel in Santa Monica to the Ventura County line, recognized for its role in inspiring the program.

Why Pacific Coast Highway matters

On October 17, 2023, Pepperdine University students Niamh Rolston, Peyton Stewart, Asha Weir and Deslyn Williams were killed when a speeding driver struck them on PCH in Malibu. Their deaths accelerated demands for coordinated safety measures. The program also recognizes the years of advocacy that followed the 2010 death of Emily Shane on PCH.

What improvements may follow

The state’s proposed toolbox includes protected bike lanes, pedestrian refuge islands, improved medians, centerline rumble strips, new markings, flashing curve warnings, speed-feedback signs, wrong-way driving countermeasures and targeted enforcement. For the Fresno corridor, officials specifically mention a possible roundabout at Winchell Cove Road. Designation does not mean every listed improvement is already funded, built or scheduled.

State agencies selected corridors using a High Injury Network methodology developed with UC Berkeley SafeTREC, drawing on crash data from 2020 through 2024 across state, city and county roads. Officials say future evaluation will examine severe crashes, speeds and other risk indicators.

Source: California State Transportation Agency / Caltrans announcement, “California Expands Statewide Road Safety Efforts with Three New Designated Safety Corridors in Fresno and Los Angeles Counties,” supplied to the newsroom. Related local reporting: Fresno News, Los Angeles News, Malibu News and Union City News.

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