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WCEL
> Issues > Urban Growth and
Development > Smart Bylaws Guide > Part
4 > Transportation Demand Management
> Traffic Calming
Smart Bylaws Guide – Transportation Demand Management –
Traffic Calming
In
response to inappropriate use of residential streets for larger
volumes of cut-through traffic, many neighbourhoods are working with
municipalities on traffic calming. Traffic calming refers to the
physical structures on roads used to reduce vehicle speeds, alter
driver behaviour and restore a safe route for pedestrians and
cyclists.
Traffic
calming measures include (from Delta’s
Neighbourhood
Traffic Calming Policies and Procedures):
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Vertical
changes in the road (speed humps, speed bumps, speed tables,
raised intersections);
-
Lateral
changes in the road (chicanes, offset intersections, lateral
shifts, traffic circles);
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Constrictions
(curb bulges, narrowings, pinch points, islands, parking);
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Narrow
pavement widths;
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Entrance
features (gates, signs, narrowings, surface treatments); and/or
-
Route
changes (road closures, partial road closures, diverters, turn
restrictions).
Municipal Traffic Calming Initiatives
Delta –
Neighbourhood
Traffic Calming Overview and the District’s
Neighbourhood
Traffic Calming Policies and Procedures manual set out the
public-involvement process Delta uses to develop traffic calming
plans for neighbourhoods, and describes in detail the benefits and
drawbacks of the various traffic calming measures. The traffic
calming initiative flows from the liveability goal in Delta’s
Transportation Plan “to improve safety, to encourage walking and
cycling, and to preserve the liveability of neighbourhoods by
discouraging regional and municipal through-traffic in residential
neighbourhoods, and addressing operational and safety problems
within neighbourhoods.”
Vancouver
– The City has completed 19
traffic
calming plans at the micro-neighbourhood level. Traffic
calming measures can be initiated as part of a neighbourhood-wide
traffic calming plan funded by the city or as a local improvement
program where property owners petition the City and contribute to
the cost of the traffic calming device. As part of the
commitments under the 1997 Transportation Plan, the City initiated a
new public process for traffic calming projects based on priority of
needs across the City (see report Neighbourhood
Traffic Calming - Priorities and Process and the 1997 Transportation
Plan, policies 3.6.3-5). Corner bulges are now standard
for new curb construction projects in the City, and since August
1996, about 100 local improvement projects have been constructed
with curb bulges (two to four curb bulges per project).
Saanich
– Manual
on Policy and Procedures for Traffic Calming in Saanich (2000)
Kamloops
- Traffic Calming Policy/Guidelines
Mission
- Neighbourhood Traffic Calming (policy)
Port Moody
- Traffic
Calming Policy and Initiatives
For More Information
Web Pages with Links
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