Neighborhood and Safety
 Neighborhood Traffic Management Links Minimize

Speed and Volume of traffic is a common concern around the world. Different places are trying different things to balance the need for movement and the desire for a livable space.

The following links are provided as a courtesy and their presence in no way implies endorsement of, or adherence to policies or suggestions described.

Salt Lake City's "Neighborhood Pace Car Program"

TrafficCalming.org Site maintained by Fehr & Peers Associates, Inc.

Walkable Communities, Inc. A Florida non-profit coorporation.

City of Boulder Traffic Mitigation Site

Keep Kids Alive, Drive 25 Grassroots community organization to encourage adherence to speed limits.

Seconds Count  A little dated now that the measure in Boulder was defeated; but, still provides many of the "against" arguments of traffic calming.

Traffic Calming for Communities Site maintained by the Institute of Transportation Engineers. (ITE)

Victoria Transport Policy Institute Victoria, British Columbia site geared toward "Transportation Demand Management".

Lesstraffic.com Site based on Australian David Engwicht's ideas for "Street Reclaiming".

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Find city services near your home or business.
 Street/Roadway Information Minimize
speedhump 

“Slow-bumps”, “Speed Humps”, “Speed Tables”, etc. are all variations of vertical deflections used to reduce speeds. The City and County of Denver currently does not install these devices for several reasons. On a grid system of roadways like Denver’s, speed humps tend to divert traffic to neighboring streets. This simply moves the problem from one block to the next. Further objections to these type of devices include, interference with snow removal operations, increased emergency response time, increased noise and pollution from braking and accelerating vehicles (similar to stop sign installation), and only localized control of speed.

What options are available to a community?

Physical changes to a roadway cross section are often the most effective way that the Transportation Engineering section can impact speed of drivers. Unfortunately, modifying an existing street can be extremely expensive. The Transportation Engineering Department is reviewing the feasibility of such devices as “mini-roundabouts” and intersection narrowings (neckdowns, and bulb outs). These devices require funding and provisions for maintenance.

On collector streets where striping exists, modifications to lane widths and edge lines can sometimes improve the perceived speed of vehicles. Local streets seldom have any lane markings. And, in most cases, very little is accomplished with additional signing.

A few communities have started “grass roots” campaigns to address driver behavior. These programs include yard signs and speed pledges to inform drivers of their impacts on everybody’s neighborhoods and encourage people to drive more responsibly. Your local neighborhood association should have further information on these type programs.

Finally, the Denver Police Department has recently started a “Neighborhood Speedwatch program”. Under this program, residents can borrow a radar gun from the police department to record vehicle speeds. Owners of speeding vehicles will be sent a letter from the police indicating that their vehicle was seen speeding on the recorded date. In addition the Denver Police Department has actively pursued trying to enforce local street speeds as well as strategically place advisory speed trailers. (Speed trailers are the portable signs that state the posted speed limit and notify drivers of their speed.)
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 Street Design Information Minimize
Transportation Engineering Vocabulary

85th Percentile Speed: The speed at which 85 percent of the traffic is traveling at or below.

One Way Couplet (Pair): Two streets that function together to provide opposite direction travel. Example: 13th and 14th Avenues.

Warrant: Established criteria for installing traffic control devices.

MUTCD: Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices. This manual is published by the Federal Highway Administration and is adopted by Denver City Council as the standard for traffic control devices. These devices include; signals, signs, and striping.

AASHTO: American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.

"Green Book": Official title of this book is: A policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets. This book is published by AASHTO and contains accepted practices for designing the physical features of a roadway. Examples of these features are: Sight distance, design speeds, lane width, horizontal and verical curves, etc.
 
Street Classification

The following definitions are based on concepts presented in the American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) publication, "A Policy on Geometric Design of Highways and Streets" often called "the Green book"


Functional Classification: A system to classify roadways by defining the primary function the road is to serve.

Local Street: All streets that are neither Collectors or Arterials. Primary function is to provide direct access to abutting lands and connections to the collector and arterial systems.

Collector Street: Provides for both movement and local access within residential, commercial, and industrial areas. Collectors distribute traffic from arterials through an area to it's ultimate destinations. Conversely they collect traffic from the local streets and channel it to the arterials.

Arterial Street: Arterial streets form a network to provide the highest level of mobility. The arterial streets carry most of the vehicles entering and leaving an urban area, as well as most of the through movements bypassing central areas. The arterial system accommodates traffic moving between major urban centers.

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