Councilwoman Peggy Neely’s
Neighborhood News Council Corner Column

December 2005

Managing Traffic for Safer Neighborhoods

Residents concerned about too much cut-through traffic and speeding in their neighborhoods have a way to get help from the city.

The Street Transportation Department’s Neighborhood Traffic Management Program works closely with residents, with a variety of proven techniques, including traffic diverters, turn restrictions and speed humps.

“The program is successful because it encourages residents to get involved and make decisions on how to best solve their neighborhood traffic problems”, said Traffic Engineer Sara Elco, who oversees the program.

You can get started by filing a traffic action request form with the city, including the signatures of 10 of your neighbors. This gives the go ahead for the city to conduct a traffic study, determining both the number and speeds of the vehicles using your street.

The results will assist the city with deciding what traffic controls would work best to remedy the situation. Some devices can only be used when the amount of traffic is excessive, while others work regardless of the traffic volume.

To control excess traffic or speeding vehicles, engineers can put in plans ranging from relatively simple turn-restriction signs that keep motorists from entering streets during certain time periods to more extensive traffic diverters that force motorists to slow down by creating barriers and forcing turns.

Speed humps – asphalt mounds built across public streets – are popular for slowing speeders as well and could have some impact on cut-through traffic. They have some drawbacks though, including increased noise levels, motorists driving on sidewalks to get around them and interference with street-sweeping equipment and drainage.

Residents share in the cost of most of the solutions, depending on the amount of cut-through traffic and average speeds of the vehicles.

More information and packets containing the action request forms are available by calling 602-495-0242.

Councilwoman Peggy Neely represents Phoenix City Council District 2. If you have questions about this or any other topic, you can reach her office at council.district.2@phoenix.gov or 602-262-7445.