Safe Routes to School | Carlsbad, CA

At a glance

Safe routes to schools is one of several ways the city is working with school communities to promote safe and convenient travel to and from campus.
The safe routes to school program focuses on walking and biking improvements. Other programs focus on safe driving.
Sign up to get specific school project updates including when draft Safe Routes to School plans are ready for review.

Background

What is Safe Routes to School?

Safe Routes to School is one way the City of Carlsbad is working with the community to enhance traffic safety throughout the city. It is based on the 3 Es of traffic safety: education, enforcement and engineering.

What does a Safe Routes to School plan include?

A Safe Routes to School plan includes short and long-term infrastructure improvements and programs the schools can implement to support safe walking and biking to school.

Short-term infrastructure improvements can be done more quickly and are cost-efficient such as speed feedback signs and restriping.

Long-term infrastructure improvements usually take more planning, design time and costs.

How will community input be used?

Input from the community will be used to help identify areas around each school where walking and biking enhancements could be made. The city’s recommended improvements will be reflected in each school’s safe routes to school plan.

What schools are involved?

The city is working with several Carlsbad schools to create a safe routes to school plan:

Hope Elementary School
Jefferson Elementary School
Kelly Elementary School
Sage Creek High School

The city anticipates expanding the program to other schools in Carlsbad in the coming years based on funding.

Why is Safe Routes to School important?

While not every family may be close enough to their school to walk and bike, improvements identified through Safe Routes to School plans can improve traffic flow and reduce time spent waiting in school pick-up and drop-off lines.

Additionally, safe walking and biking to school have been shown to:

Improve health
Improve safety
Improve the air quality by reducing the number of cars on the road
Improve readiness to learn and student attendance

Kelly Elementary

Improvements are being planned around Kelly Elementary School along Kelly Drive from El Camino Real to Park Drive and along Park Drive from Kelly Drive to Neblina Drive.
During its meeting on Dec. 9, 2025, the City Council directed staff to develop a Safe Routes to School plan to identify future street improvements near Kelly Elementary School.
The development of the plan follows other recent street improvements along Kelly Drive, including new all-way stops, a new queue lane for the school parking lot and restriping the street median.
In 2026, the city is developing a Safe Routes to School plan to identify street improvements in collaboration with Kelly Elementary School and the neighboring community.

Community input

Gathering input is an important step in developing a Safe Routes to School plan. The city hosted two listening sessions at Kelly Elementary School, launched an online survey from April 21 to May 18, 2026, and invited people to email us with input on potential street improvements in the area around Kelly Elementary School. Thank you to everyone who provided input.

A community input report will be developed in summer 2026 to reflect what we heard. Sign up to receive email updates.

Sage Creek High

The city collected community feedback to identify areas around Sage Creek High where infrastructure improvements could be made to support families getting to and from school sites.

At its July 22, 2025, meeting, the Carlsbad City Council approved a Sage Creek High School Safe Routes to School Plan, which includes traffic safety improvements along College Boulevard and Cannon Road. City staff will move forward with the final design and engineering to process several changes that will make it safer and easier for students to walk or bike to school, including high-visibility crosswalks, sidewalk upgrades and new shared-use paths.

Near-term improvements
Near-term improvements that will be implemented in the next one to two years include:

Crosswalk enhancements
Improved on-campus bike facilities
Wider bike lane buffers
Temporary traffic control measures

Long-term improvements
The City of Carlsbad will use funding from its Sidewalk Program to construct new multi-use paths along College Boulevard and Cannon Road, improving off-street access to Sage Creek High School for students walking and biking.

Several other long-term improvements require additional analysis before being implemented. Design and engineering for these proposed improvements will continue after additional funding has been secured:

Traffic signal timing modifications
“No right turn” sign to restrict right turns only when pedestrians are present, enhancing crosswalk safety.
Curb ramp enhancements
Widened sidewalks

Jefferson Elementary

The city collected community feedback to identify areas around Jefferson Elementary where infrastructure improvements could be made to support families getting to and from school sites. See the input map and public input report.
Staff presented recommended improvements and received further input at the Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission on Aug. 5.
Staff presented recommended improvements to the City Council on Feb. 4.
Read the Jefferson Elementary Safe Routes to School plan.

Next steps

Staff will move forward with final design and engineering of the short-term improvements, while searching for grants to support the design of the project’s long-term improvements.

Hope Elementary

With input from the community, staff presented recommended improvements to the Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission on May 6.
The commission supported staff's recommendation to implement a longer-term solution to creating a separate Class-1 multiuse path along Tamarack Avenue from Carlsbad Village Drive to the school. This option would not remove street parking.
Staff presented the proposed traffic safety improvements to the City Council on Oct. 8, 2024 and authorized staff to continue with the design and engineering of the improvements for the near-term phase only until additional funding is identified.

Next steps

The Hope Elementary School Safe Routes to School Plan will be implemented in the following phases as resources become available or funding is identified:
- Construct the roadway striping improvements as part of the FY 2025-26 roadway resurfacing program
- Initiate improvements to existing sidewalks, curb extensions and the Class-I shared use path once funding is identified through securing an applicable grant and/or the city's Capital Improvement Program and after any potential environmental impacts have been assessed
Sign up to get notified for future project milestones.

Past actions

May 7, 2024 | City/Schools Committee
Received an update about the Safe Routes to School program, including federal grant funding to support additional improvements.

May 6, 2024 | Traffic Safety & Mobility Commission
Provided feedback about proposed improvements for the Hope Elementary Safe Routes to School plan, supported a Class-I multiuse path along the east side of Tamarack Avenue from Carlsbad Village Drive to Wilshire Street.

June 6, 2023 | Carlsbad City Council
Council selected engineering firm Fehr & Peers to provide transportation planning, engineering design and environmental assessment services for the 2023 Safe Routes to School Program.

Jan. 12, 2021 | City Council
The City Council adopted the Sustainable Mobility Plan, which includes the Safe Routes to School Program as part of its mobility programs chapter.

Dec. 7, 2020 | Traffic & Mobility Commission
The commission supported staff’s recommendation to adopt the Carlsbad Sustainable Mobility Plan including the development of the Safe Routes to School Program.

Back to projects page