Developing a Traffic Calming Process

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1 Developing a Traffic Calming Process Prepared by: The Fargo-Moorhead Metropolitan Council of Governments One Second Street North, Ste 232 Fargo, ND (ph) (Fax) Web site: December 8, 2008

2 Table of Contents Developing a Traffic Calming Process Introduction... 1 Step 1: Project Identification... 2 Step 2: Traffic Calming Needs Assessment and Project Development... 9 Step 3: Public Review of Proposed Traffic Calming Measures Step 4: Implementation & Evaluation Step 5: Removal of Traffic Calming Measures Conclusion Appendix A: Summary of Policies from Other Cities Appendix B: Policy Examples Appendix C: Summary of Decisions Appendix D: Traffic Calming Policy Outline Appendix E: Traffic Calming Features and Impacts Appendix F: References and Links a

3 Developing a Traffic Calming Process Introduction This report was borne of a desire by local MPO member jurisdictions to implement traffic calming policies and a simultaneous desire to not re-invent the wheel. Members asked for a review of best and most common practices when it comes to city traffic calming policies mixed with objective measures of their effectiveness. This report is, in effect, a summary of information and data found elsewhere, and is designed to serve as a step-bystep guide as a member jurisdiction attempts to develop its own traffic calming policies. Cities are encouraged to provide copies to all relevant departments and key staff members, which may include traffic engineers, planners, city administrators, police and fire departments, public works, and others. Building consensus early in the policy formulation process will pay dividends when the time comes to approve the policy. The exact process for formulating the policy is left to the discretion of each individual city. But, it is the hope of Metro COG that by using this document everyone involved will gain a base knowledge of the key components of traffic calming policies and the important questions that need to be answered before a policy can be written. Policies from 17 jurisdictions around the United States were reviewed as part of the preparation of this report. These jurisdictions were not selected necessarily as best practice case studies, but were intended to be more of a random sampling of policies. When the phrases most cities and most policies are used in this document, they are a direct reference to those policies that have been reviewed and are not intended to characterize traffic calming policies in general. The Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE) Traffic Calming: State of the Practice (August 1999) was also reviewed as part of the preparation of this document. A complete list of referenced texts, websites, and policies is available in the appendix. 1

4 Step 1: Project Identification Considerations: Who can initiate a Traffic Calming Study? Does the City want a Proactive and/or Reactive process? (The City can do both) Does the City want to just make Spot Improvements or do Area-Wide traffic calming? Will there be a roadway Functional Classification criterion? Every policy reviewed for this report includes a provision for the public to initiate a traffic calming needs assessment. The development of traffic calming policies is often a reaction to public demand for something to be done. Some cities have taken it a step further and now consider traffic calming issues and features as part of the plat review process. Viewed from one perspective, public demand for traffic calming can be seen as a failure of roadway design. So, rather than building roadways which then need to be retrofitted later, some jurisdictions are making stronger attempts to design and construct roadways that are appropriate to their context. However, all cities must deal with bad design decisions made in the past and reactive retrofitting will be a part of traffic calming for some time to come. Before delving into specific issues and decisions, the city should consider if, as a matter of policy, they want to address traffic calming as spot-treatments or on an area-basis. Also, they should consider if they will address needs reactively or proactively. Chapter 8 of the ITE manual Traffic Calming: State of the Practice contains a more complete discussion of the issues associated with each, and it expresses the effectiveness of the approaches thusly: Alternative Program Options Reactive Proactive Spot-Treatment Somewhat successful More successful Area-Wide Less successful Most successful Source: ITE, Traffic Calming: State of the Practice Who Can Initiate a Traffic Calming Study? A traffic calming needs assessment takes time and resources. What level of support is appropriate to initiate the study? The Public In some cities, a single person can request a traffic calming needs assessment. In other cities, some minimum threshold of neighborhood support is necessary. Typically, this neighborhood support is measured via a petition. Thus, a single person may take the initiative to request traffic calming and they are answered by 2

5 the city with a request to collect the signatures of their neighbors on a petition. Many cities have a traffic calming petition form available for download on their websites. City policy should specify if the city will take on the responsibility of gathering the necessary signatures of support, or if the city expects neighborhood residents to do it. If a city requires that more than one neighborhood resident support the traffic calming needs assessment, the city must define the impacted neighborhood and thus define who is eligible to sign the petition. Additionally, the city must define what level of neighborhood support is appropriate, and should state explicitly in their policy if the level of support is based on number of households or number of persons. In the case of the former, only one signature per household would be allowed on the petition. In the latter case, the city would need to have an accurate count of eligible adult neighborhood residents since each adult resident could sign the petition. Most cities require only one signature per household as dwelling units are easier to count and verify than people. Rental properties, especially those with absentee landlords, present special challenges. It is the owner s property value that may be impacted by the traffic calming feature, yet the resident is the person who must live with the feature every day. Would the property owner be eligible to sign the petition in addition to or in lieu of the resident signing? No other policy reviewed for this report explicitly deals with the issue of landlords versus residents. In general, does the city want a reactive or proactive traffic calming approach? Reactive or Proactive In general, does the city want to do address spot-treatments or area-wide traffic calming? Spot Treatment or Area-Wide 3

6 How should public support for a traffic calming study be measured? One Signature per Household or One Signature per Eligible Adult Resident For rental properties, will property owners be eligible signatories or just their renters? Only property owners can sign or Only renters can sign or Both property owners and renters can sign Who or what department or body will be responsible for verifying the petition? The Impacted Neighborhood The definition of the impacted neighborhood will define who gets to sign the petition or vote in favor of or against a traffic calming study, measure, or funding proposal. It is one of the more critical decisions that the city needs to make in the traffic calming policy development process. Most cities define the impacted neighborhood in terms of some distance from the area of concern. The policy in the City of Eden, NC, for example, states that city staff will determine the area of influence, while 4

7 in Elizabeth, NC the City Manager must receive signatures signed by at least one member of sixty-six percent (66%) of the households along 1,200 feet of the proposed roadway to be looked at. Fayetteville, AR requires a petition signed by at least one member of seventy-five percent (75%) of the property ownerships facing the street(s) on which the traffic calming study is requested. There does not seem to be a true consensus of opinion regarding how the Impacted Neighborhood is defined. Each city is free to define the boundaries in any way they see fit, and often do. Local standards and good judgment should prevail. In any case, city policy should explicitly define and clearly state how they choose to define the impacted neighborhood. The cities preference for conducting spot-treatment or area-wide traffic calming may impact how they choose to define the impacted neighborhood. A spot-treatment approach will define the impacted neighborhood more narrowly while an area-wide approach will define it more broadly. How will the city define the impacted neighborhood? Level of Support Will the traffic calming needs assessment be initiated if only one eligible resident from the impacted neighborhood requests it, or will a higher standard be used? Washington, D.C. and New London, CT require 35% resident support to initiate a traffic calming study. Westfield, IN requires 10% support to initiate data collection, but at least 51% must support further analysis following data collection. Some cities require 66% support, while others require 75% support. In several cities, a single resident can initiate the study process. Again, there does not appear to be any consensus as to an appropriate level of support. Each city is free to define that threshold for itself. Some cities do require some level of involvement from their neighborhood associations, either in support of the study, support of the preferred alternative, or both. Where neighborhood associations exist, the city may wish to consider how they may play a role in requesting or approving traffic calming measures. Well run neighborhood associations can be important allies and voices for the neighborhood residents. Neighborhood 5

8 meetings may be where residents discuss their concerns and opinions with one another and so represent a local democratic process. What level of public support will be sufficient to initiate a traffic calming needs assessment? One person or % of persons or households in the impacted neighborhood Should the support of the Neighborhood Association be required to initiate the traffic calming needs assessment study? Should the Neighborhood Association be the responsible entity for gathering signatures from eligible impacted neighborhood residents in support of the traffic calming needs assessment? The City Rather than just reacting to requests from residents, some cities take a more proactive approach. City staff, especially police officers, may already know where traffic volume or speed problems exist. A few cities explicitly state in their policies that city planning, engineering, or police departments can also initiate traffic calming needs assessments, though most policies do not. If the city wishes to take a proactive approach to traffic calming in built areas, allowing city staff to initiate the study process will be essential. 6

9 It is important to note that even if the city initiates a traffic calming needs assessment, it can be done either as a spot-treatment or as area-wide proactive traffic calming. Related to initiating studies in built areas is the proactive approach of considering traffic calming during the development proposal or plat review and street design process. The city can establish an explicit traffic calming review process during which street design is scrutinized for potential traffic calming issues and features. The Institute of Transportation Engineers reports that only a handful of traffic calming programs around the country are area-wide and proactive. Most are reactive spot-treatments. In addition to the public, who should be able to initiate a traffic calming needs assessment? Planners Engineers Police Other Should the city explicitly perform a traffic calming review as part of the plat review process for new developments and re-developments? Should There Be a Roadway Functional Classification Criterion? Arterial roadways are designed to move large volumes of traffic at relatively high speeds and it may seem counter-intuitive to allow traffic calming on such a facility. While most city policies state that arterials are not eligible for traffic calming features, a few do allow it. A few others allow non-physical traffic calming such as the temporary deployment of radar speed trailers and increased police enforcement. About 50% of the city policies reviewed allow some form of traffic calming on collector roadways. Some allow traffic calming on collectors only under specific circumstances like the roadway not being more than two lanes wide and not a designated truck route. Elizabeth City, NC considers collectors on a case-by-case basis. Additional criterion regarding traffic speed, volume, and others will be discussed in the next section. For now, the city should only consider if functional classification alone is a 7

10 sufficient criterion to warrant or automatically disallow the initiation of a traffic calming needs assessment. Interestingly, any traffic calming petition for a local roadway in Prescott, AZ automatically triggers a functional classification review to determine if the roadway in question should be reclassified as a collector. Should traffic calming be allowed on arterial roadways? Should traffic calming be allowed on collector roadways? Are there special conditions or restrictions under which collectors should be considered for traffic calming? What are they? 8

11 Step 2: Traffic Calming Needs Assessment and Project Development Considerations: Does the city want Warrants or Guidelines? Should there be an ADT upper and/or lower limit criterion? Should there be a speed criterion? Should there be a roadway geometrics criterion? Should there be a build out percentage criterion? Should there be a crash data criterion? Should there be a pedestrian criterion? Should there be a bicycle criterion? Should there be a land use criterion? Should there be a truck route criterion? Should there be a traffic displacement criterion? How should emergency services be involved in the process? How should snow plow operators be involved in the process? Should a rating system be used? Before the traffic calming needs assessment is conducted, certain data will need to be collected and will be used to measure the level of traffic calming need. Before deciding what data to collect, the city should first consider if the data will be used as strict warrants or as flexible guidelines. Traffic calming warrants, much like signal warrants, establish thresholds that must be met before traffic calming features or strategies are implemented. Warrants standardize eligibility and can mandate treatments, though there is always room for engineering judgment. Establishing warrants can help insulate traffic managers from political pressure to install traffic calming where it may be inappropriate. Unlike traffic signal warrants, there are no national standards for traffic calming warrants. If a city chooses to use warrants, they will need to establish the warrant thresholds locally. Traffic calming guidelines leave more room for creativity and flexibility as each situation may be unique. Guidelines do not establish a data threshold that must be met before traffic calming is considered. Instead, every location is considered a possible traffic calming location, and the data collected will suggest the level of need and potential treatment alternatives. 9

12 Should the city establish traffic calming warrants or guidelines? Warrants or Guidelines Rating System Some cities establish a point rating system which awards points for location specific characteristics. For example, a city might award 1 point for every 200 vehicles per day (vpd) on the roadway, plus 4 points for every 5 mph over the posted speed limit of the measured 85 th percentile speed, etc. The rating systems are generally used in one of two ways: 1.) to establish a traffic calming warrant (see above), or 2.) to allow multiple traffic calming projects to be compared to one another and thus prioritized for funding according to standardized measures. For those cities that have chosen to establish traffic calming warrants, the rating system is used to establish the traffic calming warrant threshold. The systems are usually contrived to award a maximum of 100 points. If a project area does not score a sufficient number of points, it is not eligible for traffic calming. However, a point system is not the only way to establish a warrant policy. An alternative warrant system one might think of it as a binary warrant system -- could set a threshold for each data collection area. For example, a policy could state that IF the roadway carries X vpd, AND IF the 85 percentile speed is Y mph over the posted speed limit, THEN traffic calming is warranted for the roadway. IF either or both conditions are not met, THEN traffic calming is not warranted. For cities with guidelines, the rating system simply allows for the prioritization of multiple traffic calming projects. The points are not used to measure the suitability of a candidate roadway for traffic calming, but candidate roadways that score more points are placed higher on the funding priority list. A point rating system is not a necessary feature of a traffic calming policy. Only onethird of the policies reviewed contain a point rating system for candidate roadways. Should the city establish a point rating system for candidate traffic calming roadways? 10

13 Supplemental Decisions: If the city answered YES to the above question, it will want to carefully consider all rating system options. Which characteristics will be measured? Will some characteristics be more heavily weighted than others? The summary of policies in the appendix illustrates the rating systems for some cities. Local priorities and policy goals will influence the specifics of any policy. Average Daily Traffic (ADT) A public call for traffic calming is usually based on one of two conditions 1.) high traffic speed (discussed later), and/or 2.) high traffic volume. ADT is a measure of traffic volume and is frequently used as a traffic calming criterion. However, care must be taken because high traffic volume alone is not a sufficient condition to justify traffic calming. The ADT variable interrelates with the functional class criterion discussed earlier. If the city has decided to allow traffic calming on arterials or collectors, high traffic volumes should be expected and even desired. The important issue from a traffic calming perspective may be more accurately described as inappropriately high ADT. The question arises -- how does one measure the appropriateness of ADT on a roadway? Most cities policies include both a minimum lower ADT limit and a maximum upper ADT limit. On average, the lower ADT limit among those policies reviewed for this report was 850 vehicles per day (vpd), but ranged from 650 vpd to 1,500 vpd. In other words, streets that carried fewer than X vpd were not eligible for traffic calming features and/or scored no points on the cities rating system. The average upper limit was 3,500 vpd. Almost all cities that allow traffic calming on collectors do not set an upper ADT limit. The exception is Fargo, ND which allows traffic calming on local collectors (i.e., streets built to collector standards, but which are not on the federally recognized functional class system), but sets an upper ADT limit of 3,500 vpd. This criterion, coupled with the lower ADT limit for local collectors in Fargo (2,500 vpd) creates a very narrow range of allowable ADTs on local collectors for which traffic calming would be considered. The Fargo example demonstrates how the ADT criterion can interrelate with the functional class criterion. The city should consider its tolerance for ADT on various roadway segments. For example, 3,500 vpd may be tolerable on a collector in a commercial area (land use is discussed later in this document), but intolerable for a local residential street. What about 3,000 vpd? What about 2,000 vpd? What is the minimum ADT at which the city would feel obligated to take action to protect residents on that residential street? If one presumes that 10% of all daily traffic occurs in the peak hour, then a street carrying 2,000 vpd would carry 200 vehicles in the peak hour about one vehicle every 18 seconds. Is that an acceptable frequency according to local standards and expectations? Setting an upper ADT limit is probably only necessary if the city chooses to allow traffic calming to be done in non-residential areas. Again, the variables interrelate. Five thousand vpd on a local corridor that is predominantly commercial in nature may not be 11

14 perceived as having any negative externalities, unless there is another specific circumstance such as a large number of school children that must cross the roadway to reach school. But again, in the case of special circumstances like school children, an upper limit ADT would seem to be irrelevant. The value of setting an upper ADT limit is just not obvious. One suspects that it is used to prevent traffic calming on important through-streets, but functional classification would seem to be a better criterion to use for that purpose. A few cities do set minimum threshold criterion for unreasonable levels of cut-through traffic in residential neighborhoods, but frankly that is a criterion that seems difficult if not impossible to accurately measure. How would a traffic observer or piece of equipment accurately identify vehicles unreasonably cutting-through a neighborhood versus those vehicles that are not cutting-through or represent a reasonable level of cutting-through? Where applied, this criterion seems more like a traffic engineering judgment than a measurable phenomenon. Should the city establish a minimum ADT threshold for traffic calming projects? If so, what should that ADT be? vpd Should the city establish a maximum ADT threshold for traffic calming projects? If so, what should that ADT be? vpd Speed Almost every city policy considers speed as an important traffic calming criterion. Specifically, the 85 th percentile measured speed is compared to the posted speed limit. In some cities, an 85 th percentile speed that is 5 mph over the posted speed is sufficient to garner traffic calming consideration or earn points on a rating system. Other cities will not consider traffic calming unless the 85 th percentile speed is at least 10 mph over the posted speed limit. A few cities include a criterion related to the 95 th percentile speed. The stated purpose for this criterion is for those areas in which only a few bad apples drivers are speeding excessively. The city should consider if those few bad apples 1.) are really an enforcement issue, 2.) justify punishing everyone who uses the roadway, or 3.) justify 12

15 the capital expense of an engineered traffic calming measure. The 95 th percentile speed criterion is not a commonly used criterion. What should the 85 th percentile speed threshold criterion be for candidate roadways? At least 5 mph over the posted speed limit or At least 10 mph over the posted speed limit or At least mph over the posted speed limit Should the city have a 95 th percentile speed threshold criterion? If YES, the criterion should be mph over the posted speed limit. Roadway Geometrics While detailed measurements of the roadway may be needed for the design of traffic calming measures, some cities do establish that traffic calming measures will only be considered on two-lane roadways. This, too, appears to be a criterion aimed at protecting important through-streets from traffic calming, but also recognizes that traffic calming measures are less effective on roadways with multiple lanes of travel in the same direction. ITE recommends that speed humps be considered only for roadways of no more than 2 travel lanes or less than 40 of pavement width. Some traffic calming measures are designed to narrow pavement width because excessive pavement width may be the source of excessive traffic speed. 13

16 Should the city only consider speed humps or speed tables for two-lane roadways with less than 40 of pavement width? Build-Out Only two reviewed city policies establish a minimum build-out percentage for adjacent land-use as a traffic calming criterion. This criterion appears to be an attempt to recognize that traffic patterns in new developments can fluctuate until the roadway system is substantially completed and adjacent land uses have been established. It may also be an attempt to preserve capacity on roadways until final land use choices have been made. The presence of traffic calming may deter prospective investors from developing commercial property, for instance. One of the cities with a build-out criterion set the minimum build-out threshold at 75%, while the other set it at 90%. Should the city establish a minimum build-out threshold as a traffic calming criterion? If so, what should the minimum build-out threshold be? % build-out Crash Data About one-third of the reviewed policies consider crash data as a traffic calming criterion. Of those, about half give explicit consideration to crashes that involve a pedestrian or bicyclist and a motor vehicle. In one of those cases, only crashes involving a pedestrian or bicyclist and a motor vehicles counts toward the criterion. In others, all crashes are given some consideration, but crashes involving a pedestrian or bicyclist are given more weight. Of those policies that consider crash data, most specify a 3 year crash history time limitation, while a few consider 5 years of crash history. At least one policy considers only those crashes which may have been preventable if traffic calming had been in place, but, again, accurately measuring such crashes several years after the fact could be difficult. 14

17 Should the city give consideration to crash history for traffic calming? Supplemental If YES, should the city give additional consideration to crashes that involve a pedestrian or bicyclist and a motor vehicle? Supplemental If YES, what time period should be considered? Past 3 years or Past 5 years Pedestrians & Bicyclists One potential criterion has already been spoken too the number of school children who cross the roadway to reach school. Three reviewed city policies stipulate such a consideration. One policy considers the number of pedestrians that use the adjacent sidewalks, and several others give consideration if there is no continuous sidewalk adjacent to the candidate roadway. One policy gives consideration to the presence of bicycle lanes on the candidate roadway. The purpose of traffic calming is safety. One aspect of that purpose is the safety of pedestrians and bicyclists. Recognizing the presence of bicyclists and pedestrians in the candidate project criterion seems to make sense. However, a more exact measure of the need for traffic calming would be the number of bicycles and pedestrians that would use the roadway if the traffic were already calmed, which is impossible to measure prior to implementation. There may be no bicycles or pedestrians to count if traffic is too fast or too heavy. If the city chooses to use pedestrian and bicyclist criterion, it is encouraged to collect data on pedestrians and bicycles during the Evaluation phase of the project. 15

18 Should the city policy give consideration to the number of school children who cross the roadway to reach school? Should the city policy give consideration to the number of pedestrians who use the adjacent sidewalks? Should the city policy give consideration to the lack of continuous pedestrian sidewalks adjacent to the candidate roadway? Should the city policy give consideration to the presence of on-road bicycle lanes on the candidate roadway? Adjacent Land-Use Almost half of reviewed city policies give some consideration to adjacent land-uses, though that consideration varies. In Fargo, ND at least 50% of adjacent land-use must be residential. In Kent, OH four points are awarded for every elementary school within 500 feet of the proposed traffic calming location, and two points are awarded for every other type of school, every park, and every community center. New London, CT awards one point for every 150 dwelling units per square mile and one point for every nearby pedestrian generator. 16

19 This criterion may be related to the pedestrian and bicyclist criterion above. In other words, it may be an attempt to measure the latent demand for bicycling and pedestrian transportation on the corridor if the traffic were already calmed. It may also be an attempt to limit the locations where traffic calming will be considered. In Fargo, for example, commercial and industrial areas are automatically disqualified from traffic calming consideration. The city should consider where and why they want to establish a traffic calming policy. Should the city require a minimum amount of adjacent residential land use for traffic calming areas? Is so, what is the threshold amount? % or dwelling unit What other adjacent land-uses should be considered in the city s traffic calming policy? Presence of elementary schools Presence of other kinds of schools (including colleges and universities) Community centers Senior centers and senior living facilities Other Emergency Services About half of the reviewed policies give some consideration to emergency services. Washington, DC stipulates that traffic calming can have no adverse effect on emergency response times. Eden, NC cautions that the impact on emergency services 17

20 should be carefully considered. A few cities specify that the candidate roadway can not be a primary emergency or evacuation route. Engineering features designed to slow traffic will, no doubt, have some impact on emergency response times. The question is, how much impact is reasonable? The best answer to that question may come from emergency services personnel themselves. Many fire departments establish maximum response time goals for the city. For example, a department may decide that fire department vehicles should arrive on-scene not more than six minutes after the call is received at the station. Involving emergency services in the traffic calming project development phase could pay benefits in terms of feature design and maintaining those response times. Some city policies do specify that police and fire departments should review and comment on candidate traffic calming projects. New London, CT stipulates that emergency services must be involved in all stages of project development. Should emergency services have input in traffic calming project development? If so, how will that input be achieved? Snow Plows, Truck Routes, and Transit Not every city whose policy was reviewed for this analysis can be considered a snow city. Only two policies address snow removal. New London, CT stipulates that the Evaluation period must cover some snow removal time in order to detect problems. Eden, NC threatens that calmed streets may be removed from the snow removal plan, though they most likely do not receive much snow. At the very least, traffic calming features should be designed such that a snow plow operator can locate them while removing snow from the street. This may entail some sort of vertical feature that betrays the location of the traffic calming feature when it is buried in the snow. Once traffic calming features are constructed, ITE recommends that snowplows be equipped with rubber tipped blades. The city should consider if snow plow operators be involved in the traffic calming project development process, and, if so, what form that involvement should take. The city may also want to consider if emergency snow routes are eligible recipients of traffic calming. Similarly, the city should consider if traffic calming should be permitted on designated truck routes. 18

21 Transit may also be a consideration. However, unlike truck routes, transit routes may change regularly. Even if traffic calming features were to be prohibited on existing transit routes, transit routes may change to a street with traffic calming, which may pose a schedule-keeping challenge. The city may want to work with transit in the formulation of their policy though specific accommodation for transit was not among the transit policies reviewed for this analysis. Should traffic calming be permitted on emergency snow removal routes? Should snow plow operators have input in the traffic calming development process? If so, what form would that input take? Should traffic calming be permitted on truck routes? Should transit have input during the traffic calming policy development process? If so, how will they be involved? 19

22 Displacement Limits One concern with any traffic calming project is that it will simply displace the traffic volume/speed problem onto some other street. This concern is especially pronounced with a spot-treatment program with a narrowly defined impact area. Sometimes the neighbors on the very next block are fearful that the problem will soon be theirs. Effective traffic calming measures do lower the traffic volume on candidate roadways because some portion of the through-traffic avoids the calmed street, so the neighbors fear is not unfounded as traffic on their street may increase, even if they do not inherit the entire problem. Some city policies establish limits as to the acceptable increase of traffic on nearby streets. These limits can take the form of an acceptable increase in the number of vpd, or and acceptable increase in the percent of traffic growth. Curiously, none of the policies stipulate what the city will do if an unacceptable displacement of traffic occurs. Will they calm the new street also? Will they remove the initial traffic calming device? Perhaps this clause in those policies has never been tested. Should the city set a limit as the acceptable level of traffic displacement onto nearby streets following the installation of a traffic calming feature? If so, what should those limits be? vpd increase or % growth in traffic What action will the city take if unacceptable displacement occurs? Education and Enforcement Roundabouts, chicanes, and speed humps are potentially only one form (an engineering form) of traffic calming. Almost half of the reviewed policies recognized educational and enforcement efforts to reduce traffic speeds as well. Educational efforts include distribution of literature to the neighborhood and city sponsored block parties to draw attention to the problem. Enforcement efforts can include an increased police presence or the deployment of radar speed trailers to remind 20

23 drivers of the speed limit. ITE reports that these non-engineering efforts tend to be ineffective or only effective for a short time before traffic speeds return to the prestrategy level. But, for a project that may only benefit marginally from an engineered solution, education and enforcement strategies can at least demonstrate that the city is aware of the problem and is willing to do something. For some cities, the rating system is tied to the kind of traffic calming that will be done. For example, in Eden, NC if a project does not score at least 25 points or more, the roadway is not eligible for an engineered traffic calming feature. However, the city recognizes that a problem may still exist and so educational and enforcement strategies may be tried as a lower cost alternative. For other cities, educational and enforcement strategies are a stop-gap measure to be implemented until the engineering solution can be funded and constructed. Should the city s traffic calming policy include educational and enforcement efforts in addition to engineering strategies? If so, what form should the educational efforts take? What form should the enforcement efforts take? 21

24 Step 3: Public Review of Proposed Traffic Calming Measures Considerations Will the public review the proposed traffic calming measures? What level of public support will be required to implement the traffic calming project? Will the support of the neighborhood association be required? Once city staff has collected the necessary data, analyzed it, and developed a preliminary proposal for traffic calming measures to be implemented, most cities require some form of public review, comment, and/or approval. Public Input Meeting Most often this review takes the form of a public input meeting or workshop to which members of the impacted neighborhood are invited. Visualization tools are often helpful at these meetings to help the residents understand exactly what is being proposed and what it might look like once constructed. Again, if the city chooses to hold a public input meeting and invite only residents of the impacted neighborhood, it will need to define the area of impact and should do so in the policy. The definition of that area should be completed keeping in mind the need for public review of any proposed traffic calming measures. At least one city requires that staff present all traffic calming measures (i.e., not just those that staff thinks should be implemented) at the public input meeting and discuss the pros and cons of each. Then, the residents in attendance are polled regarding their support for all the alternatives and the preferred alternative is actually decided based upon the highest level of public support shown at the meeting. Requiring public review of potential traffic calming measures can actually save time and money by getting buy-in from the neighborhood and achieving consensus as to the best course of action. Should the public be given an opportunity to review any traffic calming alternatives prior to formal city approval, funding, and construction? 22

25 Public Support Most cities also require documentation of a minimum threshold level of public support prior to funding and construction. The average level of desired support is 65% among those policies that require it. The minimum level varies. Westfield, IN requires 51% public support. Sunnyvale, CA requires 100% support from those residents within 100 of the proposed feature, and 60% support from all other impacted residents. There are a few cities that require a public input meeting to be held, but do not specify a necessary level of public support for the project. Again, some thought needs to be given to how the public support will be measured. Will a petition of support be circulated in the neighborhood or will neighborhood residents vote? Who will be responsible for querying the public? The original petitioning residents? City staff? The neighborhood association? Will each household get one vote or signature, or each adult? How will eligibility be determined for rental properties? There is a generally accepted belief that higher standards for approval prior to construction will lead to fewer requests for traffic calming removal in the future. One city installs temporary traffic calming measures and then ballots the neighborhood residents after 3 months to determine if they want to make the measures permanent. What level of public support should be required prior to city consideration, funding, and construction of a traffic calming feature? % of impacted residents Who will be the responsible party for determining public support? 23

26 How should public support be measured? Petition Ballot Opinion Surveys Other 24

27 Step 4: Implementation & Evaluation Considerations: How will the project be paid for? Who must approve the final project? Will the impacted neighborhood be expected to play a role in maintaining any new landscaping? Will the city evaluate effectiveness? Who Pays? Some cities have established special funding pools for traffic calming projects, for which a project rating system is crucial. When funding is limited, cities need some way to prioritize projects to help ensure that the biggest needs are being met first. Many cities do not explicitly state in their policy how a project will be funded, or what local match may be required if any. The city should consider if a local match will be required for traffic calming projects and who would be assessed for those costs again, the definition of the impacted neighborhood will be important. ITE notes that when a city requires local match from the impacted neighborhood or from fronting properties, residents may be more thoughtful about requesting traffic calming measures. It is always (too) easy to spend other people s money. Requiring cost sharing can prevent petitions from those who do not truly value traffic calming. In many cities, traffic calming measures on placed on a funding prioritization list to await their turn for funding. However, in a few cities, the neighborhood has the option of choosing to pay 100% of the costs, which will move the project up the priority list. At least one city rejects offers from neighborhoods to pay because they feel that the ability to pay should not determine who gets traffic calming and who does not. Should the city require a local funding match from the petitioning neighborhood? If so, how much? % of project costs 25

28 Will the ability of the impacted neighborhood to pay for traffic calming be allowed to effect how quickly the traffic calming feature is built or implemented? Who Approves? Once the project has been defined, the city will need to establish who approves the project. Most cities require City Council approval, though not necessarily on a projectby-project basis. In some cities, traffic calming projects are added to lists of other capital improvement projects and the governing body approves the entire list at once. Prior to consideration by the governing body, most cities require a department or manager to approve the project. A few cities have a traffic technical committee or public works committee that reviews and approves traffic calming projects. Some policies require that the traffic engineer or manager approve, or the planning department, or planning commission. If the city desires fire and police department input, it may require approval or concurrence from those departments as well. In those few cities that establish traffic calming funding pools, the governing body appears to only approve the amount of money that is put into the pool each year, and staff decides how those dollars are spent. What persons or departments should approve traffic calming projects prior to consideration by the city governing body? Traffic Technical Committee Traffic Engineer or Manager Planning Department Planning Commission Other 26

29 Neighborhood Responsibility Traffic calming measures can sometimes mean additional landscaping. The center of a roundabout, for example, can be planted with trees or flowers to create a neighborhood gateway, and landscaping appears to enhance the effectiveness of the roundabout. Chicanes, curb extensions, and other features can likewise be ripe territory for neighborhood beautification. A few cities ask that the impacted neighborhood take responsibility for maintaining the plants in these traffic calming features. It is possible to choose plants indigenous to the area that are low maintenance to make it easier for the residents or city staff to maintain. Should the impacted neighborhoods take responsibility for maintaining additional landscaping that is part of a traffic calming feature? Evaluation Most cities require staff to perform a follow-up evaluation of the effectiveness of the traffic calming feature, and specify a time range in which the evaluation should be accomplished usually 3 to 6 months after installation. Cities often desire that the feature be installed long enough that any evaluation data is not skewed by the newness of the feature, thus the 3 month average minimum. During the evaluation, city staff again measures the average daily traffic and 85 percentile speed and compares the data to the data collected as part of the traffic calming needs assessment. Interestingly, no policy reviewed for this report sets a minimum effectiveness threshold or states what steps the city would take if the feature does not appear to be impacting, or is impacting only minimally, the traffic flow. In fact, no policy stipulates how the follow-up evaluation should be used at all, only that it be done. One city specifies that the follow-up evaluation should include a period of snow removal so that any problems can be identified. Should the city perform a follow-up evaluation to measure the effectiveness of traffic calming features? If so, when should it be done? At least months, but not more than months after installation. 27

30 Are there any special times or circumstances that the evaluation period should avoid or include? If so, what are they? How will the evaluation be used? 28

31 Step 5: Removal of Traffic Calming Measures Considerations Should the city maintain a policy regarding removal of traffic calming features? Removal About half of the reviewed policies specify under what conditions a traffic calming feature will be removed. Of those with such a policy, all require some measure of public support higher than that required to implement traffic calming. Seventy-five percent public support is typical. Again, for such a policy, the city will need to determine the area of impact and who can vote or sign the petition households or individuals. Should the city have a policy for removing traffic calming features? If so, what level of public support should be necessary? % of impacted neighborhood residents 29

32 Conclusion Considerations: How to bring it all together Now Comes the Hard Part Using this document and the decisions within it as a guide, city staff should be able to compose a policy that reflects the needs and priorities of the city. Metro COG encourages the city to provide the public with a comment period on the draft policy prior to final approval and adoption. The Appendix provides several good examples of policies from other cities that are well written and that may serve as templates or guides as to how the decisions made with in this document can be brought together into a comprehensive, understandable policy. The Appendix also provides some detailed information on various traffic calming features and their potential impact. The city may wish to include such information in their policy. Finally, the Appendix provides a summary of all the traffic calming policies that were reviewed as part of the preparation of this document. All of the policies reviewed are available on-line and website links are provided for the reader s reference. While Metro COG has attempted to be exhaustive in the scope of this document, it realizes that other questions and decision points may arise in the policy formulation process that are not specifically covered here. If so, do not let the limitations of this document stop the policy formulation process. Exercise discretion and good judgment and press ahead. Lastly, the city is encouraged to contact Metro COG to provide feedback on their experience with this document and how it was used, which will help Metro COG to write better policy development documents in the future. 30

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