In an effort to decrease speeding and cut-through traffic in neighborhoods, the City’s Department of Public Works will launch a temporary traffic calming pilot program in the Greater Parkcrest Neighborhood by the end of April.
Traffic calming is a traffic engineering method designed to slow traffic, typically by using either horizontal or vertical elements in and around the roadway.
The new pilot program involves the installation of semi-permanent traffic calming elements such as median islands and chicanes using special rubber curbs. These curbs are flexible and moveable, which will allow engineers to safely test their placement in the roadway and make adjustments in the field as necessary. When in place, the rubber curbs, chicanes and islands will appear permanent and help traffic engineers evaluate how a permanent installation will perform.
Public Works plans to install temporary elements in various sections of Broadway Avenue between Republic Road and Walnut Lawn – near Sylvania, Kingsley, Highland, Village, and Broadway streets. Traffic calming elements will also be installed at Westview where it intersects with Michigan and Fairview avenues.
Feedback is being collected from neighborhood residents as well as emergency response and other agencies who serve the neighborhood. The pilot study is expected to run for about six months. When the rubber curbs are removed, they will become available to pilot traffic calming measures in other neighborhoods.
Roadway striping, median islands and chicanes are scheduled to be installed the week of April 25 (weather permitting). A special event will be planned with the neighborhood to educate about the changes, collect feedback and decorate the installments with shallow planters.
Speeding and traffic conditions in Parkcrest Neighborhood
Residents in the Village Green subdivision in the Greater Parkcrest Neighborhood have reported speeding and cut-through traffic for many years. Broadway between Walnut Lawn and Republic Road is often used by drivers to avoid busy South Campbell Avenue. With the upcoming Republic Road Widening Project anticipated to begin this summer, an increase in cut-through traffic in the neighborhood is expected. This last phase of the Republic Road widening effort will widen Republic Road between Fairview and across Campbell to the Bancorp South entrance.
Public Works Traffic Engineering has monitored speeds in the Parkcrest neighborhood and found that speeds of 49 to 76 mph are regularly recorded. These speeds impact Mann Elementary School. Public Works has deployed electronic speed feedback signs and also requested enforcement, but these measures have only provided temporary results.