Sacramento seeks feedback on Norwood Avenue redesign. See options here

The city is weighing three redesign options for Norwood Avenue from Main Avenue to Arcade Creek, a North Sacramento corridor officials have flagged as a priority due to its high rate of severe and fatal crashes.

This two-mile stretch of Norwood Avenue alone saw 137 crashes resulting in injuries from 2018 to 2022, according to the city’s analysis of existing conditions. Of these, 3 were fatal and 13 caused serious injury, while 29 involved a pedestrian or cyclist.

At a virtual community meeting Tuesday evening, city staff and consultants from DKS Associates laid out proposals to improve safety and mobility on the corridor, which connects residential neighborhoods to schools, businesses and public transit. The meeting marked the latest phase in a public planning process that began last fall.

During that first phase, residents called for safer crosswalks, roundabouts and increased lighting, as well as better access for people biking and riding the bus. City transportation planner Charisse Padilla said the goal now is to refine the design with those community priorities in mind and seek funding to carry the project into engineering.

The three current alternatives, from least to most expensive, include a range of upgrades and tradeoffs.

Alternative 1 keeps the current number of travel lanes, adds sidewalks north of Berthoud Street, builds new signalized crosswalks and installs more bus shelters and benches. It would remove on-street parking south of Bell Avenue, but it does not include bike lanes or traffic calming features.

Alternative 2 removes one travel lane in each direction to make room for buffered bike lanes and crosswalks on both sides of the street. Like Alternative 1, it adds signalized crosswalks and bus shelters and benches. It also improves lighting and builds roundabouts at key intersections to slow traffic.

However, the bike lanes cannot be extended over the freeway due to space limitations and traffic volume, and the city would need to coordinate utility relocation with the municipal utility district.

Alternative 3 includes a shared-use path for pedestrians and cyclists on the west side of Norwood, with a cantilevered extension over the freeway. Like Alternative 2, it also reduces vehicle lanes and adds roundabouts, signalized crosswalks, landscaped buffers, transit shelters and benches and lighting.

The city would need to coordinate with the municipal utility district and Caltrans to relocate utilities and build the cantilevered shared use path. This alternative is also the most expensive option.

A resident at the meeting asked whether it could be possible to build a shared use path on both sides and to extend both across the freeway with cantilevers.

Project staff said the city is working within a fixed street width and that after crunching the numbers, planners found the street can only be redesigned to have a single-directional bike lane on both sides or a tree-buffered, bi-directional shared use path on one side.

As the design progresses and undergoes further environmental and engineering review, Padilla said, the alternatives may continue to be adapted.

The city is accepting public comments on the proposals through the end of June. Residents can view design mockups and leave feedback on the Norwood Mobility Project website until June 30. A draft plan is expected in early 2026.