SACRAMENTO — Sacramento has reached a top-20 list no one wants to be on. The city ranked as one of the most dangerous places for drivers, bicyclists, and pedestrians in the nation.

Now, safety improvements are being made along one busy street where a mother lost her life three years ago.

"The biggest problem that we have is people drive way too fast," said Megan Johnson, a senior engineer with the city.

In January 2022, Lupe Jimenez Brown was hit and killed by a car outside her daughter's elementary school on Folsom Boulevard in east Sacramento.

"It was a day that we never want to see again," said Isaac Gonzalez, founder of Slow Down Sacramento.

Gonzalez is a parent at the same school and says the road remains unsafe.

"We see near misses that really resemble the crashes that happened, that took Lupe's life," he said.

Now, city traffic engineers are unveiling a roadway redesign along a 16-block stretch of Folsom Boulevard, including the intersection where Lupe died.

The first planned change is a road diet, where one of the two lanes in each direction is removed to make way for a new center turn lane and a new buffered bicycle path.

"Doing a lane reduction makes the road feel more constrained, and it eliminates the likelihood and tendency to just drive way too fast," Johnson said.

Another more controversial proposal is to remove 19 on-street parking spaces that could impact some local businesses along the boulevard.

"There is limited parking as it is, and most buildings don't have parking spots around this area," said Carrie Bailon, a hairdresser at Black Sheep Hair Studio on Folsom Boulevard. "So it's like, 'Where are the clients going to go?' "

Removing the parking spots will create a continuous bike path to Sacramento State University and is part of the city's Vision Zero goal to eliminate all vehicle crashes that cause serious injury or death.

"I'm really happy that the city's working on this right now, and hopefully it's installed before anyone else has to die," Gonzalez said.

The city is currently designing the Folsom Boulevard traffic safety plan and hopes to break ground in late 2026.

"Our number one priority is always going to be safety, and so it is a safety need that's driving this decision," Johnson said.

• Sacramento