When driving through parts of the Coachella Valley, you’ll see more Teslas than pedestrians. After all, heading out on foot can be a treacherous journey; a lack of sidewalks or crosswalks can make it dangerous to walk, bike or skate as a mode of transportation.
As much of the valley’s population continues to age, while the valley is also adding more young families, the city of Palm Desert is working on making it safer for people to walk or bike through the city—especially children and older adults.
Palm Desert in early January announced it secured a $5.68 million grant to help improve street safety near schools and other high-risk corridors. It was one of 521 jurisdictions across the country to receive a portion of the $982 million in grants awarded by the U.S. Department of Transportation in late December. The vast majority of the grants are slated to support planning efforts, but Palm Desert was one of 67 grantees to receive funds to actually implement new fixtures and improvements.
“Recognizing that road safety is important, especially for pedestrians, children and older adults—which you see more so in Palm Desert and the Coachella Valley—we wanted to look at ways to create safer environments,” said Christopher Gerry, senior project manager for the city of Palm Desert.
Some of the first areas to be addressed will be streets near Abraham Lincoln Elementary School, Palm Desert Charter Middle School, George Washington Charter School, James Earl Carter Elementary School and Palm Desert High School.
The city plans to begin project-design this year, including public outreach. Improvements could include additional sidewalks, curb ramps, pedestrian-level lighting, high visibility paint and driver-feedback signs.
What might sound to some like small changes could actually become lifesaving, as pedestrian deaths are becoming more common in the United States. Data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System, crunched by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, shows 7,314 pedestrians were killed nationwide in 2023. This accounted for 18% of all traffic fatalities and marks a 78% increase since pedestrian deaths’ lowest point in 2009.
The causes behind this troubling trend are myriad, but the solutions tend to be rather simple—at least on paper. Traffic-calming measures and infrastructure improvements can make it safer for pedestrians while also making them more visible to cars.
Gerry said Palm Desert’s work on roadway safety is part of a long-term vision—and like many public-policy initiatives, it started with data and fact-finding. In 2023, the city received a federal grant of $970,000 to support street-safety planning efforts.
“When we got that planning grant, that was our first real opportunity to say, ‘How can we strategically look at certain opportunities in Palm Desert for the foreseeable future and make them safer environments?’” Gerry said.
The city worked with Alta Planning + Design to figure out what areas were most in need of improvements. It examined data from 1,564 crashes between 2013 and 2022 in the city limits, and mapped its “high-injury network,” or places with the highest number of injuries or fatalities from traffic crashes. About 83% of serious collisions occurred on 8% of the city’s roads, the data show.
The city built two plans that helped beef up its latest grant application: The Safe Routes to School Plan looks at areas where students may be walking; and the Safe Routes for Older Adults plan, a newer concept in city planning, aims to make it easier for people 55 and up to navigate without cars. Both of those plans use data from community surveys and outreach events, and pinpoint issues seen on city streets, like people turning in front of pedestrians or people crossing in the middle of the block.
Thomas Soule, the city’s public affairs manager, said Palm Desert won’t just rely on grant funding to make more multi-modal improvements, but will look at what’s possible out of its own operating funds to make sure streets are multi-modal.
“We want Palm Desert to be as friendly and welcoming as possible for everybody who moves here, but also who might visit here,” Soule said.
In June 2025, as it prepared for the latest grant application, the city formally adopted a Vision Zero strategy to eliminate traffic deaths and serious injuries by 2040. The concept stems from the national nonprofit called the Vision Zero Network, which aims to reframe traffic deaths not as “accidents,” but as tragic and preventable losses of life.
The city has also rolled out educational materials—like a bus-ad campaign with SunLine—to promote its Very Important Pedestrian signage, to remind drivers to be on the lookout; the latest grant funding will allow the city to further those efforts.
“One of the things we found is that drivers out here don’t expect to find pedestrians as they’re driving, so they’re not really looking out for them,” Soule said.
For Gerry, the resulting infrastructure improvements that will come from these efforts are more than just road projects; they’re a matter of making sure people can safely get where they need to go, no matter their age, occupation or economic status.
“My children go to these schools, and so it’s personal to me to keep them safe, and keep their friends safe,” Gerry said.