The Monarch Network

For a Safer, Better-Connected San Marcos

The Monarch Network is MoveSM’s vision for a safe, comfortable, recognizable network for walking, biking, and rolling across San Marcos. The vision’s name comes from the shape of the network itself, which resembles the wings and body of a monarch butterfly spread across the city. Collectively these create an active transportation framework: protected multifunctional primary routes connecting neighborhoods and slow, safe streets within.

What is a Monarch Street?

Streets designated as a part of the Monarch Network would prioritize comfortable walking and rolling conditions to “everyday” destinations, safely connecting neighborhoods to schools, parks, libraries, community centers, grocery stores, pharmacies, trails, and downtown.

The basic principle is simple: as traffic speed and stress increase, the level of protection for non-car users should increase, too. Monarch streets would adopt best practices for multimodal road design, including complete streets principles and “all ages and abilities” infrastructure. Interior streets, like quiet neighborhood streets, would rely on reduced speed limits and design to complement slower speeds, with a target speed limit of 25 mph or less (20 mph preferred).

Monarch Streets will need different solutions depending on their posted speed limit and proximity to important community destinations – but with a consistent set of components a safe, recognizable network will emerge. Over time, these improvements will make the Monarch Network self-enforcing — a place where safe infrastructure isn’t an add-on, but built into the design and feel of the street from the beginning.

The Monarch Network Vision Prioritizes:

A recognizable identity

Wayfinding, consistent design, and the Monarch name should help people know when they are on the network and where it leads.

Connections to everyday destinations

The network should prioritize linking neighborhoods with schools, parks, grocery stores, libraries, civic spaces, cultural destinations, downtown, trails, and other destinations that are at the center of ordinary life.

Comfortable walking and biking conditions

People should have space, physical protection, and clear routes whether they are walking, biking, rolling, using transit, or using mobility devices.

Safer crossings

Crosswalks, curb extensions, raised crossings, median refuges, and other tools should make it easier and safer to cross the street.

Shade and trees

In San Marcos, comfort also means protection from heat. Shade should be treated as essential transportation infrastructure, whether through trees or shade structures.

25 mph maximum speeds for “interior” streets (20 mph preferred)

Slower speeds inside the Monarch “wings” make streets calmer, safer, and more comfortable for people outside cars.

Self-enforcing street design

The street should be designed so that slower speeds feel natural, not just requested by a sign. Curb bulb-outs, chicanes, continuous sidewalks, and other strategies recommended by organizations like NACTO and the Complete Streets ordinance 2018-04.

The Concept

Developed through community brainstorming, public outreach, and local knowledge, the Monarch Network vision builds on the trails, sidewalks, bikeways, and slow neighborhood streets San Marcos already has. By leveraging existing infrastructure and filling key gaps, it aims to help people reach “everyday” destinations without needing a car.

A connected network cannot be built everywhere at once. Following Jeff Speck’s writing on street design, the Monarch Network focuses limited resources where they can have the greatest immediate impact. It begins with San Marcos’s more densely developed interior, where people live closer to the destinations they care about most. Improving connections in these areas means each investment can serve more people and connect more destinations, while creating a strong foundation for the network to expand over time.

The Monarch Network is imagined for users of all ages and abilities. It’s for children riding to school, older adults walking to a community center, families biking to a park, students commuting between campus and home, residents running errands, people using mobility devices, and anyone else who wishes they could walk or bike more often (but who don’t feel safe doing it today).

Why a Clear Vision Matters

San Marcos is growing, and growth brings choices about how people move through the city. Right now, we plan as though nearly every trip will be made by car — an approach that has resulted in traffic congestion and parking problems. Instead, we can improve quality of life by giving people transportation choices. The Monarch Network vision aims to make short trips easier, bolster the local economy, improve community access for people who do not (or cannot) drive, support a happier and healthier citizenry, make streets calmer and safer, and reduce car traffic and parking worries for drivers.

Many people in San Marcos already live near the places that matter to them most. But too often, the route to reach those places — by walking, biking, rolling, or transit — feels unsafe, disconnected, exposed, or confusing. A street may technically have a sidewalk or “allow” biking, but if it feels stressful, hot, or dangerous, it won’t be used.