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Committee reviews traffic-calming policy and asks staff to draft updates including pedestrian and bicycle measures
Summary
Staff presented the city\'s traffic-calming policy adopted in 2008, outlined the criteria for speed tables and similar measures, and committee members asked staff to draft possible revisions to incorporate pedestrian and bicycle metrics and a citizen petition process.
The Infrastructure Committee reviewed the city\'s traffic-calming policy at its Nov. 18 meeting and discussed updating the policy to reflect modern pedestrian and bicycle considerations and to document petition procedures.
Staff outlined the existing policy, enacted in February 2008, and described standard criteria the city uses when evaluating traffic-calming requests: a 25 mph posted speed limit, not a state or federal highway, no more than two travel lanes, residential land use comprising at least 75% of the street frontage, minimum frontage guidelines, and thresholds such as 85th-percentile speed, annual average daily traffic and a minimum of three accidents within 12 months for certain measures. Staff also said the policy allowed flexibility when two of several criteria were met and when sidewalks or school routes were factors.
Committee members noted that other communities consider pedestrian counts, bicycle and micromobility use, and event-driven pedestrianization when planning street treatments. Staff said the state DOT and current guidance (including references to ITE and the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices) include more recent pedestrian and bicycle standards and that staff already collects such data for studies; members asked that those factors be codified in local policy to ensure consistency if staffing changes.
Councilors discussed petitions and public initiation of studies. Staff said the current local ordinance does not include a petition form or signature threshold; staff reviewed Portland\'s approach, in which a petition requires 10 signatures, as an example. Committee members asked staff to draft suggested edits to the city policy to include modern multimodal criteria and a documented petition process.
A temporary speed table on Conduscade was mentioned as an example of a resident-initiated trial; staff said they are reviewing data from that pilot. Staff agreed to start drafting revisions and bring a draft policy back to the committee if the council desires formal review.
No formal vote was taken to change the policy at the meeting; the committee directed staff to research and prepare draft revisions.
