Traffic in Walnut Creek isn’t just an inconvenience. It affects quality of life, public safety, small businesses, and how families experience their daily routines. Anyone who has driven along Ygnacio Valley Road during peak hours knows that congestion is real, and it’s not going away on its own.

We can’t solve traffic by pretending growth won’t happen, and we can’t solve it by approving projects without real mitigation. We need smarter signal timing, better coordination between city and county corridors, safer pedestrian crossings, improved bike infrastructure where it makes sense, and serious investment in public transportation connections to places like Walnut Creek BART Station. Mobility has to be part of every major land use decision we make.

My approach is practical. Protect our neighborhoods from cut-through traffic. Demand infrastructure improvements alongside new development. Use data, not guesswork, to evaluate what’s working. And be transparent with residents about tradeoffs. Traffic solutions don’t have to be ideological. They just have to work.

Walnut Creek should be a city where you can get across town without frustration, where seniors feel safe driving, where kids can bike safely, and where emergency vehicles can move quickly when seconds matter. That’s the standard we should be aiming for.