Strengthening safer movement in Arcata
At a glance
The City of Arcata wanted to identify improvements that would reconnect communities and improve safety for people walking and biking across the Samoa Boulevard corridor, where the US Highway 101 and 255 State Route interchange creates a significant barrier to movement. Combining over 200 comments from the local community with traffic and safety data, we developed the South Arcata Multimodal Safety Improvement Plan (SAMSIP). The plan reflects both lived experience and technical evidence to guide future improvements focused on safety and connection.
The challenge
Samoa Boulevard plays a central role in how people move across Arcata, with travel speeds, volumes and user needs shifting along the corridor toward the US Highway 101 and 255 State Route interchange. These changing conditions left pedestrians and cyclists feeling exposed to fast traffic and long crossing distances.
Through SAMSIP, the City of Arcata wanted to better understand how the corridor shaped everyday movement. More than 200 community comments revealed consistent concerns about comfort, safety and confidence, but the variety and volume of input made it difficult to see where the issues aligned. The City needed a way to establish clear priorities for action, grounded in both community insight and data-driven analysis.
Our response
We spent time with residents, students, businesses and task force members who rely on the corridor for everyday trips. Workshops, a community walk, a pop-up demonstration, an online map and a survey revealed different perspectives on how the corridor works in practice. These conversations shaped our understanding and guided the way we approached the technical review for SAMSIP.
We paired this insight with a structured assessment of collision records, traffic behavior and existing infrastructure. Using GHD Unpack™, we analyzed the full set of qualitative comments to identify recurring themes related to personal safety, cycling comfort and environmental conditions. We then compared these themes with TRACER (Transportation, Risk, Assessment and Collision Evaluation Resource) data to understand how community experience aligned with recorded collisions.
In addition to TRACER, we reviewed connected vehicle data sources such as Compass IoT to explore where near-miss collisions may be occurring and how these patterns relate to known collision risks. This integrated view informed several design alternatives and a preferred concept shaped by what people value along the corridor.
The impact
SAMSIP provides the City of Arcata with a clearer, shared basis for decision-making along Samoa Boulevard and at the US Highway 101 and 255 State Route interchange. Through an integrated approach that combined public input with technical evaluation, the plan helps the City identify where safety concerns, movement patterns and community priorities align, and where investment can have the greatest impact.
For decision-makers, the plan supports more confident choices about where to focus improvements and how to sequence future work. The preferred concept reflects both data and community insight, strengthening the case for change and helping align internal conversations around safety, accessibility and long-term mobility.
For the community, the plan reflects how people actually experience the corridor. It responds to concerns about exposure, comfort and connection, and supports safer, more confident travel for people walking, cycling and using other modes of transport. With future upgrades grounded in everyday experience, SAMSIP strengthens local connections and builds momentum toward streets that work better for everyone.