On May 13, 2020, the City of Ventura joins several cities throughout the nation and launched a Shared Streets for Healthy and Safety During COVID-19 initiative, which allows for "soft" road closures in select neighborhood streets to through traffic to allow more space for being physically active in a safe manner during the Stay Well at Home order. This initiative is meant to help our community find safe and healthy ways to get outside to recreate and access essential services during COVID-19. Starting with a pilot phase, the City will designate some streets for “Local Traffic Only.”

Our goal is to make neighborhood streets safer to walk and bicycle by creating wider spaces than our current sidewalks allow.

Traffic patterns will not change on the “Local Traffic Only” and “Shared Streets” configurations. Emergency services will continue to have full access to the street network. Designated street signs for this temporary initiative will include signage or barricades, indicating one of the following designs:

• "Local Traffic Only,” open to motorists traveling to a specific destination on that street.
• "Shared Street,” open to cyclists, pedestrians, and vehicles. Motorists are encouraged to drive slowly and be extra cautious.
• “Repurposed Street,” temporary parking restrictions or lane changes in select locations to widen key walking and biking corridors.

Community members are encouraged to provide feedback on the five pilot phase streets as well as share ideas for other areas in the Shared Streets initiative. Click here to submit your input.