How would you go about getting a residential street closed to through traffic?

[NanceXToo]

I live on a small, residential, one way street. There are about 16 houses on the block. 8 of those houses have families with kids ranging from 4 to 11 plus a few teens. 2 of the houses are elderly women. 1 house is empty and for sale. And the others are people without kids.

 

When people come up a main road from a neighboring town, our road is used as a cut through to get out onto our town's main road. So cars cut through all the time, often going faster than the posted 30 mph... And halfway down our street, the road curves, so if there are kids in the road (and some of the 9-11 year olds do play in the road sometimes), they can be hard to see.

 

There is a way these cars can go, detouring slightly just before they get to our one way street, that with a quick left and a quick right, they can be out on that same main road without having to come down my street, which only saves them literally a few seconds of time.

 

I was thinking I should make some formal request to have our street be residents only. Who should I ask? What should I write? Do I ask all the neighbors to sign something?

[Occasionally]

I imagine that you'll want to address the township--maybe see when they have their meetings and bring it up there? Having a neighbor or two with you on the issue may help. Data might help, too. (Ooo, you can make it a project for math, and civics, and...but I digress :001_smile:)

 

Making the street "residents only" sounds logistically difficult, though--how do you know who is and isn't a resident? (I know *you* know, but for purposes of enforcement...) Something like speed bumps installed in the right places might make your street just enough of a pain in the neck that people will choose another route. It would slow them down, anyway.

 

Best of luck!

[Carrie12345]

I'd go with the speed bump angle. After asking at least most of the neighbors first. People will ignore signs.

I've been told that people constantly used our private development's main road as a shortcut (ignoring our 25mph speed limit, or it wouldn't have been muchnof a shortcut) until we got gates. Mere signs were ignored.

[NanceXToo]

So maybe we can ask for a sign and speed bumps at the beginning of the little one way road? Hm. I think most of my neighbors would go for a sign, no idea how they would feel about speed bumps, but something to think about and mention. I plan to talk to at least four of the other families with kids who I see frequently sometime this week and see what they think.

[Liza Lee]

Around here, speed bumps are very common on neighborhood streets that may be used as short-cuts. Also, it's pretty difficult to get a street closed at one end or gated because of the need for emergency vehicle access.

[NanceXToo]

I don't mean literally closed with gates, just a sign that says "residents only, no through traffic" kind of thing- something that discourages people from using it as a cut through.

 

But I guess some of you are right that most people will ignore it and cut through anyway. :( Maybe if it was done in conjunction with at least the one speed bump at the beginning of the one way street, that might help.

 

Could I write a letter to town hall or something? Not sure if there's a specific person in charge of that. I guess I could call town hall and ask them who would be in charge of that sort of thing! They will probably act like they have no idea what I'm talking about lol.

[Tullia]

That's so frustrating! Here are some things I've learned from my own experience.

 

There are several options. One is to simply close the street, but that's difficult because outright closures can adversely affect nearby residents and access for emergency vehicles. A lot of people would have to sign off, and one objector could derail the closure. The procedure would probably be governed by a combination of state and local laws.

 

Speed bumps are another option, but many jurisdictions don't like them because of potential liability or because they can be a maintenance headache. There are other "traffic calming" devices out there, but they vary in different parts of the country. You need to find out what options are most feasible in your area.

 

Also, you need to find out if your road is classified as residential, collector, feeder, or arterial--or something else. Those words can all mean different things depending on who's doing the classifying (town, county, state, federal), but in general if your road is getting heavier use than it should based on its existing classification, then having something done might be easier.

 

Submitting a petition will be helpful. Focus your petition/letters/conversations around health, safety, and general welfare issues--those are issues that will get the most attention. Also, be specific about the frequency and speed of traffic, but know in advance that your report will be assumed to be overblown; ask for a traffic count with average speeds included. Most jurisdictions have the equipment to do this.

 

Do you live in an incorporated area? If so, you might want to start with the local planning office. If you're in an unincorporated area, the county government's planning office is a good place to start. If you don't get satisfactory answers you can go to the local or county elected officials, but beware that sometimes these things get bounced back and forth between the politicians and the bureaucrats--that's especially true now that so many places are on tight budgets.

 

Good luck, and feel free to send a PM if this doesn't make sense. I typed in a hurry. :)

 

Martha

[tearose]

My parents' house is where their street unexpectedly curves, and there were 6-8 accidents with cars either hitting my parents' brick planters or their next-door neighbors driveway posts. The city added signs to slow down before the cutve and stop signs at either end of the block; after the latter were added, I don't think that there were any more late-night accidents. A few years ago, they got speed bumps because several of their neighbors got tired of the street being used as a short-cut during afternoon rush hour--I believe that all the residents of the block (or at least those in the area of the bumps) had to pay for them to be installed, so you might want to see how something like that is handled in your area.

[Danestress]

that are posted as not being available for certain hours of the day. So the shortcut I would take from my house to my Mom's has a "no left turn 6 - 9 am" to prevent people from cutting through carpooling the nearby junior high. Maybe something like that would work.

 

My own neighborhood succeeded in getting a speed bump installed, which has slowed traffic speed but not necessarily the volume of traffic.

 

Casually monitoring this through email update on progress from the residents who pursued it, I will say that our county is reluctant to make restrictions. We do have "private streets" but then the citizens on that street pay for all upkeep. Otherwise, streets are public, taxpayers pay to maintain them, and taxpayers are entitled to use them.

[MrsBasil]

Our road has been made a temporary detour for a church during construction on the main road and the city has posted extra signs. There's a high school next to the church and the students had been using the detour even though they weren't supposed to-they had a different one. The church traffic obeyed the speed limit, but the high school students have not. We complained and a patrol car or two has taken care of the problem of speeding. :D

[Jyniffrec]

Usually if there is a traffic problem with streets like this it is because they are poorly designed. Traffic engineers tend to look at four things when they design roads; 1) traffic capacity, 2) traffic flow, 3) traffic safety and 4) construction cost, in that order (1 and 2 are often switched). Traffic engineers are trying to make the car happy but they ignore the context of the neighborhood. IMO it is more reasonable when designing streets to consider 1) traffic safety 2) construction (and maintenance) costs 3) traffic capacity and finally 4) traffic flow, in that order.

 

If cars are going too fast on this road it maybe that the road is too wide. Ideally the road would be redesigned to narrow the paved area, plant street trees, add sidewalks and/or add on street parking. All of these features send the message that the road is more dangerous for cars and they will naturally slow down. Another advantage to this for the city is that a narrower street costs less to maintain, especially with the price of oil raising. Do not be surprised if the conversation with the traffic engineer goes something like

. This link also illustrates what the traffic engineer means when they talk about safety. It is not what you are looking for.

 

Oops, I posted on my wife's account.

Father of Pearl, City Planner in TN

Edited September 5, 2011 by Jyniffrec

[My3Monkeys]

Does your city have monthly meetings? Maybe start a petition and then make a presentation at a meeting.

[BigMamaBird]

A neighborhood was having that problem in our town. The city put in speed humps, broader and lower than speed bumps and they also put in a round-about. People looking for a short cut found it too inconvenient to slow down and navigate the circle so they found a new route.

[higginszoo]

People won't pay attention to signs about no through traffic. We actually had a project on it in my city planning class back in college. What does work is making it more inconvenient -- speed bumps and/or stop signs are the easiest ways without major redesigns. One concept that has worked on my parents' street is a crosswalk and stop sign in the middle of the block. There's a school down at the end of the block that they used as an excuse (though the kids cross at that corner), but it has cut down on speed and accidents on their street (my parents are medical first responders and had attended at least one fatality and three permanently disabling injuries in their yards of the immediate neighbors).

Edited September 5, 2011 by higginszoo