Program aims to ‘calm’ traffic on local streets > Traffic > Stories > Castle Rock

RECENT STORIES

Cherokee Castle to host fundraising melodrama ( Aspen Walker )
E-470 board approves license plate tolling ( Jody Bennigsdorf )
Sheriff's blotter: Man arrested after fight ( YourHub.com )
Police blotter: structure fire ( YourHub.com )
Summer movie series closes with 'Willy Wonka' ( Cathy Sapiro )

share a story | more postings »

YourHub.com \\ Castle Rock \\ Stories \\ News \\ Traffic

Program aims to ‘calm’ traffic on local streets

e-mail to a friend | print this | link to this

Contributed by: Town of Castle Rock on 10/24/2007

Improving pedestrian safety and encouraging appropriate driving are some of the goals of a Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program approved Tuesday by the Castle Rock Town Council.

Staff from the Town Community Relations, Development Services, Fire, Parks and Recreation, Police, Public Works and Utilities departments worked with residents and a consulting group for nearly a year to develop the program. Council voted 6-1 Tuesday for its adoption, replacing an interim neighborhood traffic-calming policy approved in September 2006.

"It gives a chance for the citizens to come and profess what they think is the right thing in their neighborhood," Mayor Pro Tem Doug Lehnen said of the program.

The program aims to improve situations where traffic is traveling too fast on residential streets or where drivers are using residential streets as shortcuts or instead of congested main thoroughfares. Major streets that are critical for emergency response are not eligible for improvements under the program.

Residents, Town staffers and Town Council members all may nominate for improvements areas where concerns exist. A process has been established to ensure equity among neighborhoods. Key areas the process covers include:

-- Initiation - A minimum number of residents within the neighborhood must support the concern for an application to advance.

-- Eligibility - Volume and speed requirements must be met in order to make the best use of Town resources.

-- Choice - Residents may choose the best solution for their neighborhood, with assistance from Town staff.

Though it is not required, a roadway will be given greater consideration for improvements if there is a school, park, trail crossing, recreation center/clubhouse or other facility that generates high pedestrian traffic nearby.

If intervention is needed, interim tools - speed-monitoring trailers, educational and regulatory signs, pavement markings and/or targeted police enforcement - first will be used. If those efforts do not resolve the problem, other changes will be explored.

That can include entry islands, speed humps, raised pedestrian crossings, curb extensions, partial medians and traffic circles. Speed dips and bumps and rumble strips will not be used, as the Town attempts to balance the needs of emergency responders with residents' desire to reduce speeds.

Nor will stop signs for speed control only, as stop signs are intended to reduce confusion over right of way.

The Town will identify funds in each year's budget for use for the program. Town funding will be provided to remedy the most severe problems. Homeowners associations, special districts or other organized entities seeking fixes that do not score high enough to receive public funds may discuss the possibility of self-funding a project with the Town.

For more information about the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program, contact Transportation Planner Dusty Dunbar at 303-814-6410 or ddunbar@CRgov.com.

[Report this as objectionable content.]

SUBMIT COMMENT

Rate the above story

Current Rating

Based on 1 user ratings.

Talk Back : submit comments to the story

*Note: you need to log-in to add a comment or rating.

Thank you! Your comment has been updated.

SAVE AND SHARE THIS STORY

digg	Google
del.icio.us	Yahoo!
reddit	Newsvine

What is this?

STORY RSS FEEDS

All stories

All stories in Castle Rock

All stories by Joseph Kirchmer

WANT TO WRITE FOR YOURHUB.COM?

Want to see the stories you write and the photos you shoot featured in the YourHub.com Thursday print section available all over the Front Range and with home subscriptions of the Rocky Mountain News and The Denver Post? All you have to do is register, then post a story or column, start a blog or tell everyone what events are happening in town. We will print the best stories, columns, event listings, photos and blog entries in our print sections.

Loading Ad