TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Keith Stahley, City Manager
FROM: Peter Fernandez, PE, Public Works Director
SUBJECT:
title
Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan update.
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
Result Area(s): Safe, Reliable, and Efficient Infrastructure
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SUMMARY:
summary
The Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan is being updated to change requirements for speed hump installations, include a Twenty-is-Plenty program, and incorporate neighborhood stop plans. Staff has engaged DKS Associates, a traffic engineering firm, to assist with the update. The updated plan will identify the measures that are appropriate for a given situation and establish factors for prioritizing options given the City’s limited resources.
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ISSUE:
Information only.
RECOMMENDATION:
recommendation
Information only.
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FACTS AND FINDINGS:
The Salem Transportation System Plan (Salem TSP) includes a Neighborhood Traffic Management Element, that provides the policy basis for the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan. The goal of the Neighborhood Traffic Management Element is “to preserve and enhance neighborhood livability and safety through community supported education, enforcement, and engineering measures that address vehicle speed and volume appropriate to the street’s designated functional classification” (Salem TSP, Page 5-3).
In early 2022, City Council approved two motions relating to neighborhood traffic management.
• On February 14, 2022, Council directed staff to bring back an implementation plan for a Twenty-is-Plenty program (Attachment 1). The authority for cities to implement a Twenty-is-Plenty program is in Senate Bill 588, approved by the Oregon legislature in 2019.
• On March 14, 2022, City Council directed staff to create a separate process for installing speed humps on local residential streets (Attachment 2).
Additionally, traffic engineering staff have been working to propose a change to the long-standing policy regarding criteria for installing stop signs. The proposed change will allow systematic installation of stop signs on residential street intersections within a neighborhood (also known as a Neighborhood Stop Plan). If approved by Council, the change is expected to improve predictability and safety on neighborhood streets.
Implementing Twenty-is-Plenty, changing criteria for speed humps, and developing Neighborhood Stop Plans are all traffic management tools that can work together to improve the safety of our neighborhood streets. City staff has engaged DKS Associates, a traffic engineering contractor of record, to assist in updating the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan. The update will review the relative effectiveness of the various tools-either alone or in combination with other tools-and establish prioritization factors to guide investments, factors that will include effectiveness and equity.
Key work tasks for DKS include the following:
• Review Neighborhood Traffic Management Best Practices: Review plans from other agencies and identify the processes used for interacting with the public and for evaluating and selecting neighborhood traffic management measures for implementation.
• Identify Neighborhood Traffic Management Measures: Prepare a list of neighborhood traffic management measures that also includes description, key design parameters, and Highway Safety Manual effectiveness factors.
• Develop Neighborhood Traffic Management Criteria: Develop criteria to score requests and to compare requests involving various neighborhood traffic management measures available.
• Prepare Draft and Final Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan: Write the plan based on input from City staff and the public. The plan will focus on implementation and include steps for how to evaluate citizen requests, conduct analysis, and develop recommendations for neighborhood traffic management measures. Options for funding will include line items on the annual operating budget and Capital Improvement Plan projects.
City staff will seek public input on the project to update to the Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan. Staff will work with the Citizens Advisory Traffic Commission and neighborhood associations. Work is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with a final report to Council anticipated in early 2023.
BACKGROUND:
The City adopted its first neighborhood traffic management program in 1985. The current Neighborhood Traffic Management Plan was developed in the late 1990s following adoption of the Salem Transportation System Plan. The procedure used to evaluate neighborhood traffic management measures was established in 1999 and amended in 2006, specifically relating to requests for speed humps on local residential streets.
Robert D. Chandler, PhD, PE
Assistant Public Works Director
Attachments:
1. Councilor motion on twenty-is-plenty program (February 14, 2022)
2. Councilor motion on speed hump criteria (March 14, 2022)