SR 05:223 - Laserfiche WebLink

City of Pleasanton Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program Introduction The City of Pleasanton initiated a comprehensive approach to neighborhood traffic calming to address a variety of traffic concerns expressed by local residents. The Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program 0NTCP) is designed to provide consistent, citywide policies to neighborhood traffic management to ensure equitable and effective solutions. The program intent is to treat similar traffic problems equally, while recognizing the differences in individual residents levels of concern and traffic tolerances. The NTCP is designed to provide guidelines and methods of evaluation to systematically address neighborhood traffic problems. Neighborhood traffic concerns are as varied as the residents who perceive them and include a wide range of issues from site specific safety concerns to neighborhood-wide concerns with cut-through traffic speeding through the neighborhood on one or more streets. The nature of the problems should drive the approach as well as the solution. The program outlined here summarizes the process the City will use to address neighborhood traffic concerns in Pleasanton. Background Neighborhood traffic calming programs are seeing a surge in popularity as cities search for solutions to increased speeds and volumes in growing communities. Within the transportation engineering profession, traffic calming is the topic du jour, with an entire conference devoted to it in Monterey California a few months ago. However "traffic calming," or whatever label is used, is not a new concept. Many communities have been practicing it for decades. One oflhe more famous, or infamous depending on your perspective, local examples is the City of Berkeley. But it has also been in practice for years in places such as San Jose, and Seattle where a young traffic engineer named Bill van Gelder instituted the use of traffic circles and other devices to calm traffic in residential areas. More recently several communities in the Bay Area have been adopting traffic calming programs of different sorts. The cities of Oakland and Fremont have developed speed bump programs, San Francisco and San Jose have implemented photo radar programs and Danville has developed a comprehensive neighborhood traffic calming program involving several types of physical devices. Part of the re-emergence in popularity of traffic calming is the drive for a more participatory government. Residents are demanding a more direct say in the way government addresses problems. A neighborhood traffic calming program can ad&ess this need. The process requires a significant level of neighborhood involvement mad support. The City of Pleasanton has unique characteristics that have driven the interest for neighborhood traffic calming. Pleasanton is a relatively old city with many long time residents that along with the overall Tri-Valley area is currently experiencing tremendous growth. Pleasanton is also an