Traffic Engineering

The Neighborhood Traffic Management Program strives to create a safe and livable Bloomington where all people can use streets    to get where they need to go. To achieve this vision, the NTMP focuses on managing traffic speeds, improving safety, and increasing access for people walking, biking, and taking transit. 

The NTMP primarily focuses on local streets within the City's jurisdiction.

• Improve Safety for All Roadway Users
• Enhance Mobility so people can move freely and easily
• Remove Barriers to Accessibility so people of all agesand abilities can access their destinations
• Advance Equity so the benefits of the program are shared and easily accessed
• Develop a program with Efficacy and Fiscal Sustainability in mind. The program should provide cost-effective, high-impact benefits.
• Create a program that is Clear and Easy to Understand – and more accessible to the community

Only local streets are eligible for this program, since these are the streets that the City owns and due to the types of

activities on local streets, traffic levels and speed levels of these streets. Streets with planned construction through the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) or Pavement Management Program (PMP) are still eligible as well. Streets that are not eligible include:

• Cul-de-sacs or blocks less than 250 feet in length: Implementation of a traffic calming tool requires more space and is less useful without thru traffic that is less likely to be speeding.
• Larger streets (such as Lyndale Avenue, American Boulevard, 86th Street): The traffic calming tools are generally appropriate for streets with lower traffic volume and speeds than these. Additional safety measures beyond the toolbox are applicable for larger streets.
• Streets under County or MnDOT jurisdiction, or privately- owned streets: Traffic calming may be installed by the agencies responsible for the street.

Streets with active construction: Construction typically disrupts traffic and would make the study of an area inaccurate to the long-term functioning of the street

The process is summarized below. Full descriptions can be found in the procedure document.

1. Public Request (January - Year 1)
2. Request Prioritization (February)
3. Information Gathering (March - September)
4. Community Input (June - September)
5. Approval (September - October)
6. Implementation (Year 2)
7. Evaluation (Year 2-4)

The program is designed to be adaptable. There are multiple places in the process where staff can opt to immediately implement safety improvements or not go forward with requests. These could happen in the following steps of the process:

1.  Public Request: City staff can determine that a public request represents an immediate and significant safety issue that needs to be addressed immediately outside of the request cycle.
2.  Request Prioritization: If a request does not score highly, it can be considered in a future cycle.
3.  Information Gathering: Data collection may indicate that the problem does not need to be investigated further.
4.  Community Input: Feedback from the community may demonstrate that the safety problem is larger than can be addressed within the scope of this program.

Implementation of temporary solutions and subsequent community engagement may demonstrate that the safety problem has been solved by the temporary solution.

Staff developed a set of criteria for prioritizing traffic

calming requests that accounted for both traffic safety as well as the demographic characteristics of the potential project area which provide additional perspective on equity considerations.

The prioritization criteria identified include:

• Traffic
• Safety / Pedestrian and Bicycle Experience
• Equity
• Community Destinations
• Number of People

Staff developed measures, thresholds, and weighting for the recommended traffic calming prioritization criteria.

Each traffic calming application is evaluated by Public Works using these considerations and prioritized based on its needs. The quantitative criteria were selected based on data that reflected transportation needs and community priorities, as well as data that were readily available and easy to understand. Additional information about the methodology and data sources is included in Appendix H  in the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program Procedure Document

OVERVIEW

A variety of traffic calming treatments exist, and the appropriateness of each treatment depends on the context. Staff developed a toolbox of options to streamline the decision-making process about which treatments are suitable by providing a set of proven and cost-effective tools to choose from.

Under Construction - more to follow