Let’s make street smart about traffic calming
Let’s make street smart about traffic calming
Annica Eagle, Community Programs Coordinator, Office of Neighborhood Services, 509.625.6156
Monday, April 12, 2021 at 9:52 a.m.
Your children will have to cross a busy intersection, but there isn’t a safe nearby intersection area for them to do so. Or you live on a busy road to a school, but you notice that there are no sidewalks a block away and children are walking in the street. Or, speeding is such a problem in your neighborhood that both cyclists and pedestrians have been hit. What is there to do?
The answer: the traffic calming program from your friendly neighborhood councilor. The Institute of Transportation Engineers defines traffic calming as “the combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects of vehicle use, change driver behavior and improve conditions for non-motorized road users”. For the City of Spokane, the Neighborhood Council Traffic Calming Program is available through the Office of Neighborhood Services. If you live within the city limits you live in a neighborhood with a neighborhood council. Since 2010, the city’s 29 neighborhood councils have promoted numerous traffic calming measures as well as school radar and security measures to improve the quality of life in the city. That busy intersection with no safe crossing? This could be approved as a zebra crossing, pedestrian island, rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacon (RRFB), or HAWK (RRFB).H.high intensity Aactivated crossW.alK. Beacon). Missing sidewalks? New paved roads for a safe way to school. Vehicle or pedestrian / bicycle accidents on your local artery? Installing bumps in bends, creating parking lots, and adding bike lanes narrow the driveway, creating slower, safer driving conditions. With their funding based on red light and school zone violations, those dollars are reinvested in neighborhood safety with an emphasis on direct service rather than temporary roundabout repairs.
In the past, the program required each neighborhood council to submit its proposed solutions. If the proposals did not meet the technical standards of the Uniform Traffic Control Devices Manual (MUTCD), many proposals were thrown on the street, leaving neighborhoods to wait until next year to be reapplied.
However, the traffic calming program is changing to be more suitable for those who want to improve the safety in their neighborhood but have not saved the MUTCD manual. Now the neighborhood councils can submit the problems they have identified, leaving the traffic engineers in charge of doing analysis and returning to the neighborhoods with the improvements that fall below the technical standards that could be applied to the problems. Later this year there will be autumn workshops where neighborhood councils can work with an advisor specifically dedicated to identifying problems in their areas. When we gain a broader view of the needs of our neighborhoods, we can address these issues more holistically, create opportunities to use more state and federal funds, and carry out projects that make bigger and better changes for the community. Participate in your local neighborhood council today!
If you have speed problems in your neighborhood, please contact the SPD hotline for traffic units: 509.625.4150.