SAN ANTONIO – Improved roadway design and the urgency of resolving infrastructure woes were among issues residents cited in an October 2025 Transportation Department survey gauging neighborhood safety.
The department conducted the two-day survey in October 2025 using FlashVote, a government software tool that tracks residents’ feedback on community issues.
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“Survey responses show that residents are highly perceptive. They understand that street design, lighting, and activity influence how safe a place feels — not just how many cars travel through it," a department blog post discussing the survey said.
Four questions were included in the survey, covering problems experienced on roadways in the San Antonio area and transportation-related changes to prioritize.
The data could help refine and prioritize how the department handles current and future projects, said department spokesperson Joe Conger.
“We can utilize this approach on citywide plans (e.g. TOD), since the survey results provide insight on which recommendations may have potential hurdles to consider before the plan is adopted,” he said.
TOD, or transit-oriented development, is an urban planning practice that seeks to maximize the growth of residential, business, retail and leisure spaces near public transportation lines.
Residents say some roadways are ‘too crowded with cars’
One of the survey’s questions asked the public to identify problems seen while traveling around San Antonio. The question’s top response noted seeing pedestrians crossing streets unsafely. The other two responses identified cars not stopping for pedestrians and the road being “too crowded with cars.”
Residents said they felt less safe walking in their own neighborhoods than in active areas of the city, such as downtown. Half of the respondents said they felt unsafe from cars or crime while walking, the department said.
Another question pointed to transportation-related changes the city should prioritize. Responses pointed to fixing infrastructure, such as potholes, and improving roadway design to improve safe travel.
“Backed by science, it gives us insight into what the public at large thinks about the mission and direction of our Transportation Department and will help us in prioritizing future projects,” Conger said.
Feedback points to addressing Vision Zero needs
A reformed focus of Vision Zero efforts is needed on local streets, not just major roads, the department said in the blog post.
San Antonio established its Vision Zero program in 2015. In 2024, a Vision Zero Action Plan, the first of its kind in Texas, was created, according to an SASpeakUp page.
Five Vision Zero-focused projects have been completed in San Antonio, with five more projects under construction.
Last year, the city launched a High-Injury Network Dashboard as part of a larger million-dollar effort to curb severe and fatal crashes across the area. The dashboard was developed utilizing Texas Department of Transportation crash data from 2018 to 2022.
While the survey’s feedback does not directly affect the dashboard, Conger said, there are plans to soon update it with new crash data.
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