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Report regarding the award of a Consulting Services Agreement to TDG Engineering, Inc. for Preparation of the Vision Zero Action Plan (TR2501) (John Wilson, Senior Engineer)
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RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a resolution awarding a Consulting Services Agreement to TDG Engineering, Inc. of Silver Spring, MD for preparation of the Vision Zero Action Plan (TR2501) in an amount not to exceed $500,000, with a 20% contingency, for a total contract authority of $600,000; and authorizing the City Manager to approve the consulting services agreement.
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BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION
Vision Zero is a nationally recognized transportation safety strategy that aims to eliminate fatal and severe injury crashes through a Safe System approach, which recognizes that roadway users make mistakes and focuses on designing transportation systems that minimize the likelihood those mistakes result in serious harm.
On February 24, 2021, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 40-2021 establishing the City’s Vision Zero goal of eliminating traffic deaths and severe injuries by 2025 and directing staff to prepare a Vision Zero Action Plan.
Current Safety Conditions
Since adoption of the City’s Vision Zero policy in 2021, crash data indicates that serious traffic injuries and fatalities continue to occur on South San Francisco’s roadway network. Excluding freeway facilities, the City has experienced 10 fatal crashes and 86 severe injury crashes during this period.
While severe crashes occur throughout the transportation network, many involve conflicts between vehicles and pedestrians, particularly at intersections. Approximately 30 percent of severe and fatal crashes involve a vehicle striking a pedestrian, and about half of these incidents involve drivers failing to yield the right-of-way to a pedestrian in a marked or unmarked crosswalk.
Traffic crashes resulting in severe injury or death are relatively rare events, and individual crash locations can vary over time. As a result, modern roadway safety planning emphasizes evaluating systemic risk factors, such as roadway design characteristics, operating speeds, and locations with high pedestrian activity, rather than relying solely on historical crash locations.
The Vision Zero Action Plan will therefore combine crash data analysis with an evaluation of roadway conditions, traffic operations, and community context to identify locations where the risk or severity of crashes may be elevated, allowing the City to proactively implement safety improvements before additional serious crashes occur.
The resulting Vision Zero Action Plan will provide a data-driven framework to guide future safety improvements, policies, and initiatives intended to reduce traffic fatalities and severe injuries affecting motorists, pedestrians, bicyclists, and other roadway users.
Federal Grant Funding
The U.S. Department of Transportation Safe Streets and Roads for All (SS4A) program provides federal funding to support development of safety action plans and implementation of safety improvements to the transportation system.
On May 8, 2024, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 64-2024 authorizing submission of an SS4A grant application.
On October 22, 2025, the City Council adopted Resolution No. 154-2025 accepting a $400,000 SS4A grant award to prepare the Vision Zero Action Plan.
With grant funding secured and incorporated into the Capital Improvement Program, staff initiated the consultant procurement process to advance preparation of the Vision Zero Action Plan. The SS4A program requires safety action plans to be grounded in the Safe System approach, which addresses multiple elements of roadway safety, including safer road users, safer vehicles, safer speeds, safer infrastructure, and improved post-crash care. The Vision Zero Action Plan will therefore examine a broad set of safety strategies, including infrastructure improvements, policy changes, vehicle technologies, data improvements, and emergency response practices.
Scope of Work
The consultant team will prepare a comprehensive Vision Zero Action Plan using the Safe System approach, a nationally recognized roadway safety framework adopted by the U.S. Department of Transportation. The Safe System approach recognizes that human mistakes are inevitable and focuses on designing transportation systems that minimize the likelihood those mistakes result in severe injury or death.
The Vision Zero Action Plan will evaluate safety strategies across the five Safe System elements.
Safer Roads -- Designing roadways that reduce the likelihood and severity of crashes
• Crash data analysis and identification of the City’s High Injury Network (HIN)
• Identification and prioritization of safety improvement projects at high-risk locations
• Development of conceptual safety improvement strategies and planning-level cost estimates for future implementation projects
• Development of updated transportation safety design guidance and infrastructure toolkits, including recommendations for updates to the City’s standard drawings and roadway safety treatments
• Development of implementation strategies for safety improvements across the City’s transportation network
Safer Speeds -- Managing vehicle speeds to reduce crash severity
• Evaluation of roadway design and policy strategies to support safer operating speeds
• Review of recent California legislation allowing jurisdictions to establish context-sensitive speed limits based on roadway conditions and crash history
• Identification of corridors and locations where speed management strategies may reduce severe and fatal crashes
Safer Vehicle -- Leveraging vehicle technology to prevent crashes and reduce injury severity
• Evaluation of vehicle-based safety strategies that may reduce severe crash outcomes
• Exploration of potential pilot programs utilizing Intelligent Speed Assistance (ISA) or other safety technologies in City fleet vehicles
Safer People -- Supporting safe travel behavior through education and engagement
• Community and stakeholder engagement to better understand safety concerns and barriers to safe travel
• Development of education and outreach strategies to promote safer travel behaviors
• Policy and program recommendations that support safer travel for pedestrians, bicyclists, transit riders, and motorists
Post-Crash Care -- Improving emergency response and medical outcomes following crashes
• Assessment of existing post-crash response practices in coordination with emergency response partners
• Identification of opportunities to improve emergency response coordination and injury outcomes following serious crashes
In addition to the Safe System evaluation, the consultant team will perform several technical and planning tasks necessary to develop the Vision Zero Action Plan. These tasks include:
• Supplementing police-reported crash data with additional sources, including hospital and emergency room data, to better understand underreported crashes and injury severity outcomes
• Development of enhanced crash analysis methodologies to support safety decision-making
• Preparation of the Vision Zero Action Plan document
• Development of an evaluation framework and performance metrics to track progress toward the City’s Vision Zero goals
• Development of a public-facing Vision Zero Data Dashboard to track safety trends and implementation progress
• Identification of potential funding opportunities and implementation strategies to advance safety improvements
While the Vision Zero Action Plan will identify priority safety improvement strategies and conceptual designs for key locations, construction funding is not included as part of this project. Instead, the plan will develop implementation concepts, cost estimates, and funding strategies to guide future capital improvements and grant applications.
Consultant Selection Process
On November 4, 2025, the City issued Request for Proposals (RFP No. 2025-RFP-055) through the OpenGov procurement system seeking a qualified consultant team to prepare the Vision Zero Action Plan. Proposals were due December 12, 2025.
A total of seven consulting teams submitted proposals. The proposals were evaluated by an interdisciplinary review panel consisting of a Principal Planner, Associate Planner, Police Captain, Principal Engineer, Senior Engineer, and Deputy City Manager.
Proposals were evaluated using the following criteria:
• Technical Approach & Safety Impact (55%) -- Strength, creativity, and clarity of the proposed approach; alignment with Safe Systems principles; responsiveness to South San Francisco’s context; and demonstration of next-generation strategies to reduce severe and fatal crashes.
• Team Qualifications & Capacity (40%) -- Relevant experience, expertise, and demonstrated success delivering similar plans and managing engagement, data analysis, and timely project delivery.
• Experience with Similar Plans (5%) -- Demonstrated experience developing comparable Vision Zero or safety plans and dashboards
Following evaluation of written proposals and interviews with the highest-scoring firms, the evaluation panel ranked the top consultants as follows:
|
Firm |
Total Score |
|
TDG Engineering, Inc. |
97.18 |
|
Fehr & Peers |
93.21 |
|
DKS Associates |
83.25 |
TDG Engineering, Inc. (commonly referred to as Toole Design) received the highest overall score and was determined to provide the strongest combination of Vision Zero planning expertise, Safe System approach, data analysis capabilities, and experience delivering similar plans for California and nationwide jurisdictions.
The Vision Zero Action Plan will apply a Safe System framework addressing safer roads, safer speeds, safer vehicles, safer people, and improved post-crash care to reduce traffic fatalities and severe injuries citywide.
FISCAL IMPACT
The proposed Professional Services Agreement with Toole Design Group, LLC provides for compensation not to exceed $500,000, with a 20% contingency ($100,000) for potential additional services if required.
In addition, the project budget includes an allowance of $20,000 for City staff participation and project management.
Funding for this contract is available within Capital Improvement Project TR2501 - Vision Zero Action Plan, which has a total budget of $900,000 funded as follows:
|
Funding Source |
Amount |
Purpose |
|
USDOT / FHWA Safe Streets for All Grant |
$400,000 |
Consultant services |
|
Citywide Traffic Impact Fees |
$200,000 |
Contract contingency |
|
Citywide Traffic Impact Fees |
$20,000 |
City staff participation |
|
Total Project Budget |
$620,000 |
|
Following execution of the agreement and allocation of project funds, $280,000 of the previously budgeted Citywide Traffic Impact Fees will be returned to the Traffic Impact Fee program for use on other transportation improvements.
RELATIONSHIP TO STRATEGIC PLAN
Approval of this action advances the Shape SSF 2040 General Plan by directly implementing Goal MOB-1 (Mobility Element), which calls for prioritizing safety in all aspects of transportation planning and engineering, and Goal MOB-2 (Mobility Element), which calls for providing a multimodal network with convenient choices for everyone.
The Vision Zero Action Plan will guide future capital investments, policies, and programs to improve transportation safety citywide.
CONCLUSION
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a resolution awarding a Consulting Services Agreement to TDG Engineering, Inc. of Silver Spring, MD for development of the Vision Zero Action Plan (TR2501) in an amount not to exceed $500,000, with a 20% contingency, funded through the SS4A grant and Citywide Traffic Impact Fees; and authorizing the City Manager to approve the consulting services agreement.
Associated Documents
Legistar Files 21-134: Adoption of Vision Zero Goal.
Legistar Files 24-568: FY 2024-25 Adopted CIP.
Legistar Files 24-466: Resolution Submitting Grant Application.
Legistar Files 25-1049: Resolution accepting grant funds.