The Merced Campus Connections project will develop a safety action plan focused on the UC Merced campus and the surrounding roadways that connect the campus to surrounding communities. This effort will include a study of roadway safety issues on campus as well as surrounding roadways in order to identify solutions to increase safety, reduce risk of fatalities and serious injuries, and improve access for all modes of travel, especially for bicyclists and pedestrians. In addition, this effort includes a temporary pilot demonstration mixed-use path along the north side of Bellevue Road, extending from the existing facilities at Lake Road westward to G Street.

This effort will build upon the Local Roadway Safety Plan created by the Merced County Association of Governments (MCAG) and align with best practices under the Safe System Approach for safer roads, safer road users, and safer speeds.

UC Merced opened to undergraduates in 2005 as the newest campus in the University of California system, and is the youngest university to earn a Carnegie research classification. A top-100 research university and the fastest-growing public university in the nation, UC Merced is on the cutting edge of sustainability in campus construction and design, and supports high achieving and dedicated students from the under served Central Valley and throughout California. Today, about half of the 8,300 undergraduate students and all of the graduate students at UC Merced live off campus and must commute to school. In addition to the student body, UC Merced employs over 1,800 staff who commute from across the region. All these populations need safe transportation options to and from campus.