Mead Valley ACCESS Plan (Advancing Clean, Connected, Equitable, Sustainable Streets)
Organization: County of Riverside
Funding Request: $492,595.00
Project Summary
The Mead Valley ACCESS Plan is a community-based transportation planning effort led by the County of Riverside to build a long-term strategy for reducing the impacts of automobile and truck operations through upgraded, equitable transportation infrastructure. Success is defined as maintaining Mead Valley’s rural identity while reducing industrial impact and improving access to safe multimodal options such as walking, biking, and horseback riding, with a street network that aligns with land use to provide needed services and prevent nuisances like truck parking in residential neighborhoods. The plan is one component of a broader community planning effort, allowing transportation goals to be embedded directly into the long-term land use framework.
The scope centers on an inclusive, community-driven process that begins with a transportation needs assessment to identify service gaps, local preferences, and future opportunities, drawing on existing data (infrastructure condition, transit access, traffic volumes, safety data) supplemented by qualitative community input and project-specific analysis such as emissions reductions. The engagement plan proposes a minimum of two public workshops, two design charrettes, three stakeholder meetings, and a robust electronic communications campaign. Throughout the County, TODEC, community partners, residents, and the consulting team will identify safety concerns, active transportation amenities, roadway and infrastructure upgrades, and opportunities for micro-mobility and EV charging, while coordinating with the County’s ongoing AB 98 truck route planning and addressing truck charging and parking.
Project Descriptions and Transportation Equity
Mead Valley’s challenges stem from its location and rapid industrialization. Adjacent to I-215 and a short distance from I-15 and March Air Reserve Base, its land is in high demand for new logistics facilities, but for long-established residents, the rapid industrialization brings more adverse impacts than benefits. Air quality in the Inland Empire is already poor, and new truck traffic adds pollution to a community that cannot afford to manage it. The rural roadway infrastructure is ill-suited for large trucks, with no bicycle facilities, only limited sidewalks, and narrow streets, which inhibits active transportation and makes cars the default option, an inequitable outcome in a community where household sizes are large and both per capita and per household incomes fall below County and State averages. The large-lot rural development pattern attracts truck and trailer parking into neighborhoods, and Cajalco Road draws still more heavy traffic through the community, while residents also lack neighborhood-serving retail like a local grocery store and the EV charging infrastructure needed to transition to clean vehicles.
The project advances transportation equity by ensuring everyone has access to safe, affordable mobility and that this Disadvantaged Community is not unfairly burdened by industrial traffic pollution. A community-wide equitable transportation plan built in partnership with residents would empower the community, support rural-appropriate infrastructure, reduce reliance on cars, and offer safe alternatives to driving. The engagement is deliberately designed to lower barriers: it relies on the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Involvement to calibrate activities from informing through empowering, offers multiple participation channels, including traditional workshops and pop-up events at established community gatherings, and conducts outreach in both English and Spanish. As a signal of genuine empowerment, one of the first engagement steps will ask residents to define Mead Valley’s boundaries as they see them, and participant demographics will be reviewed after each step to ensure the community is equitably represented.
Community Benefit
Increasing mobility options and decreasing air pollution will benefit all residents, with particular gains for priority populations. CalEnviroScreen reports high rates of asthma, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes in Mead Valley, and both improved air quality and increased physical activity are critical to these health conditions, so cleaner air and safer active transportation can directly improve quality of life for those suffering from asthma and reduce risks for those with cardiovascular disease. Lower-income residents, the young, the disabled, and the elderly stand to benefit as well, both from reduced mobility costs and from reduced pollution burdens. While the lowest-income households may benefit most, the plan is intended to improve conditions for all Mead Valley residents.
The engagement approach is itself a benefit, designed to garner broad outreach, input, and empowerment. The team will build partnerships with existing community organizations to establish trust, go to the community rather than asking the community to come to the County, communicate in the languages residents are comfortable with, and emphasize a shared understanding of clean transportation options. Workshops will be held at accessible community locations such as the library or elementary schools, reducing the common barriers of language, comfort, distance, and distrust, and ensuring that residents who are not typically inclined to participate in conventional government processes can still shape the outcome.
Partnerships and Structure
The County of Riverside leads the planning effort and, as the local government that convenes the Municipal Advisory Council (MAC), regulates land use, and builds infrastructure, is best positioned to do so. The partnership follows the IAP2 Spectrum of Public Participation, clarifying roles at each step from informing through empowering, and pairs the County’s authority with deep community trust. The roles are organized as follows:
County of Riverside (Lead Applicant): Leads the overall planning effort, convenes the MAC, and ensures integration of transportation goals into land use and infrastructure decisions.
TODEC (Sub-Applicant): Founded in Perris in 1984 with a mission of empowering disenfranchised immigrant communities, TODEC leads engagement strategy and grassroots awareness, working closely with the County and MNS on approach and messaging at each step, and providing community outreach, meeting space, and a base of volunteers.
MNS Engineers (Prime Consultant): Leads the overarching community planning effort and all community engagement, the broader existing conditions and needs analysis, and development of the Mead Valley community plan.
Fehr + Peers (Transportation Specialist): Leads all aspects of transportation existing conditions analysis and needs assessment, and prepares the active transportation plans and strategies, collaborating with MNS to align land use, infrastructure, and transportation planning.
A network of community partners rounds out the structure: the Mead Valley Municipal Advisory Council serves as a community hub sharing information and feedback; Blue Zones Activate Mead Valley advises on engagement and hosts listening sessions; the Concerned Family Ministry leverages its network to disseminate information among homeless and low-income residents; the Val Verde Unified School District provides insight into transportation challenges affecting students and families; and the Riverside University Health System shares public health data and supports outreach. Together, this structure is designed to bring the community’s voice to the forefront while building durable trust and capacity among the County, residents, and TODEC.