NDOT proposes speed cushions on Fairfax Avenue; residents split ahead of mail ballot

Amy Burch, a traffic engineer and consultant for the Department of Transportation (NDOT), told neighborhood residents on a virtual meeting that NDOT plans to install speed cushions on Fairfax Avenue between Marlborough Avenue and Natchez Trace and will send a mailed ballot to property owners before any construction. The cushions in the current design would be placed in a series — about 400 to 550 feet apart — with four sets shown in the most recent plan, but staff said they will revise that plan based on neighborhood feedback.

The proposal matters to neighbors because NDOT designed the neighborhood traffic‑calming program to reduce vehicle speeds on residential streets and thereby lower the severity of pedestrian crashes. "There's a strong correlation between vehicle speed and a pedestrian's chance of survival," Burch said, noting national data NDOT uses to compare crash severity at different speeds. NDOT measured an 80th percentile speed of 33 miles per hour on the Fairfax segment under discussion; the posted residential limit on that block is 20 miles per hour. Daily two‑way traffic volume was measured at just under 1,500 vehicles, and the street is about 36 feet wide with…