To: MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
From: TED SEMAAN, PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR
TITLE
title
DISCUSSION AND POSSIBLE ACTION ON ACCELERATING THE IMPLEMENTATION OF TRAFFIC CALMING IMPROVEMENTS THROUGH THE REDUCTION OF POLICY BARRIERS AND CHANGES TO PROCESS
end
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Goal 6 of the City Council's recently revised Strategic Plan is to "Enhance the Delivery of City Services." A stated objective under that title is for staff to present a report on "policy changes that would accelerate the implementation of traffic calming improvements". The topic was presented to the Public Works Commission ("Commission") who, in coordination with staff, helped identify certain policy changes that might simplify the City's traffic calming procedures and make it easier for residents to make requests and get results. These ideas are discussed in the background section of the report. Staff appreciates additional feedback from the public and the City Council on this topic to continuously improve the City's engineering processes and provide more timely and responsive service to residents.
BACKGROUND
The term "Traffic Calming" as used (somewhat imprecisely) in the discussion below includes resident requests related to stop controls, speeding, parking, pedestrian and bicycle safety. The City's traffic engineering team works to respond to these resident requests and Council referrals to address concerns as they are observed first hand, or brought to the City's attention. Requests can be as simple as a request for curbs to be painted red adjacent to a residential driveway, and as complex as evaluating ways to reduce and slow traffic through a network of neighborhood streets. Successful policy to address these concerns will be a combination of the "three E's", education, enforcement and engineering.
This discussion focuses on the process to implement engineering (infrastructure and regulatory) improvements, which are meant to modify driver, pedestrian and cyclist behavior ...
Click here for full text