Sacramento, California, reshapes roads for safety and traffic

Sacramento's current road transformation prioritizes safety by targeting critical issues like speeding and enhancing visibility at intersections. The city implements daylighting by enforcing a new parking rule that mandates a 20-foot no-parking zone at intersections to improve visibility and prevent crashes. Governor Gavin Newsom signed laws to curb street takeovers by granting authorities the power to seize vehicles involved in illegal races or sideshows. At Phoebe Hearst Elementary School, officials urged drivers to slow down, highlighting the increased danger posed by small speed increases.

Meanwhile, a judge rejected environmentalists' petition against Caltrans' highway expansion, acknowledging it provides temporary congestion relief but increases long-term traffic.

NO. 1: PARKING 20 FEET FROM SACRAMENTO INTERSECTIONS IS NOW ILLEGAL. WHY ‘DAYLIGHTING’ MATTERS

New daylighting law improves visibility on Sacramento intersections | Published July 10, 2025 | Read Full Story by Tina Li

A sideshow is seen from a police helicopter in Stockton in 2020. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed four bills on Monday aimed at cracking down on such takeovers in parking lots and roadways.

NO. 2: GOVERNOR GAVIN NEWSOM SIGNS BILLS ENHANCING PENALTIES FOR SIDESHOWS

The increased penalties give law enforcement the ability to seize vehicles of drivers engaged in sideshows and street takeovers. | Published September 24, 2024 | Read Full Story by William Melhado

NO. 3: SACRAMENTO COUNTY RENAMES RESIDENTIAL STREET TO REMOVE NATIVE AMERICAN SLUR

The street will now be known as “River Valley Way,” according to the Sacramento County Department of Transportation. | Published May 14, 2025 | Read Full Story by Emma Hall

Isaac Gonzalez, founder of Slow Down Sacramento, announces a partnership with city and state leaders on Thursday, Aug. 14, 2025, calling on drivers to be safe by slowing down and “step off your gas.” The event was held at Phoebe Hearst Elementary School in East Sacramento where Lupe Jimenez a mother of a sixth grade student was killed by a vehicle in 2022. By HECTOR AMEZCUA

NO. 4: AT SACRAMENTO SCHOOL WHERE A MOM WAS KILLED, OFFICIALS BEG DRIVERS TO SLOW DOWN

State and local officials gathered Thursday at Phoebe Hearst Elementary School in East Sacramento to urge drivers to remember that even small speed increases while driving can dramatically increase the danger to pedestrians and cyclists. | Published August 14, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ariane Lange

Westbound traffic on Interstate 80 slows down on the Yolo Causeway on Nov. 19, 2019. The elevated freeway crosses the Yolo Bypass, a vast floodplain that includes rice fields and protected wildlife habitat. By Xavier Mascareñas

NO. 5: JUDGE RULES AGAINST ENVIRONMENTALISTS IN LAWSUIT OVER CALTRANS’ I-80 PROJECT

A judge denied a petition from environmentalist groups to halt Caltrans’ highway expansion project on Interstate 80 in Yolo County while acknowledging that “widening freeways is almost never the best way to solve traffic congestion over the long term.” The Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity and the Planning and Conservation League, as well as the Sierra Club and the Environmental Council of SacramentoEnvironmental Defense Council, had filed petitions asking the court to intervene against Caltrans in May 2024. | Published August 19, 2025 | Read Full Story by Ariane Lange

The summary above was drafted with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists in our News division. All stories listed were reported, written and edited by McClatchy journalists.