II. PROGRAM GOAL, OBJECTIVES AND POLICIES
Program Goal: The goal of the Neighborhood Traffic Management
Program (NTMP) is to
establish procedures and techniques to promote community and
neighborhood livability by
mitigating the negative aspects of automobile traffic in the
city's neighborhoods.
Objectives:
The overall objectives for the NTMP are derived from existing
city policy. They are:
- To improve neighborhood livability by mitigating the impact of
vehicular traffic on
residential neighborhoods.
- To promote safe and pleasant conditions for residents,
motorists, bicyclists,
pedestrians, and transit riders on residential streets.
- To manage vehicular traffic on neighborhood streets.
- To reduce the average speed of traffic on residential streets.
- To preserve and enhance pedestrian and bicycle access to
neighborhood destinations.
- To solicit citizen participation in all phases of the program
and in all traffic calming activities; and
- To provide a process that will address neighborhood traffic
management requests and
make efficient use of city resources by prioritizing projects.
Policies:
The following policies are established as part of the NTMP:
- Streets eligible for the City of Santa Fe's Neighborhood Traffic
Management Program (NMTP) must be publicly dedicated and maintained
streets located within the City of Santa Fe.
- Prinicipal arterials as designated on the City of Santa Fe
Functional Road Classification (FRC)
Map are not eligible for the NTMP. Roads classified as locals,
collectors or minor arterials are
eligible for the program.
- Through traffic shall be routed to major roadways such as
principal and minor arterials as
designated on the City of Santa Fe FRC Map.
- Some traffic may be rerouted from one local residential street to
another as a result of an
NTMP project. Traffic rerouting can occur due to the
implementation of such devices as
divertors, cul-de-sacs, or partial road closures. The amount of
rerouted traffic that is
acceptable will be defined on a project-by-project basis by the
Citizen Traffic Committee for that project and city staff. Generally,
adjacent local streets should not receive an
increase of more than 250 vehicles per day or an increase in traffic
greater than 50%, whichever is less. If adjacent streets receive
higher than acceptable levels of rerouted traffic,
additional studies will be undertaken by staff in order to consider
possible mitigation of those impacts.
- To ensure that essential City services are not compromised, the
following guidelines will be
followed. Reasonable emergency vehicle access will be preserved,
and the appropriate
agencies will be asked to review proposed traffic management
plans and to comment in
writing.
-
The Citizen Traffic Committee invite a Fire Department
staff member to explain
the Department's criteria for access to the neighborhood. All
NMTP projects must
meet the approval of the Fire Department.
- Traffic calming devices shall not block access to a fire
hydrant as determined by the Fire Department.
- On city-designated Emergency Response Routes, speed humps
or bumps shall not be
used as a matter of public safety. The city and the Citizen
Traffic Committee shall
work to find other devices or techniques that can achieve the
desired level of traffic management.
- If a roadway segment is narrowed by a traffic calming device,
it must leave travel
width adequate for Fire and Solid Waste vehicle access.
- A divertor at an intersection must allow for a forty foot turning
radius.
- If a road is closed and the resulting dead-end segment is more
than 150 feet long, the
closure must include a Fire Department approved turn-around.
- If a project includes a street that is part of an operating
regular service transit route, the
use of traffic calming devices will be reviewed with the city's
Transit Division and the
Santa Fe Public School District Transit Department prior to
approval.
- All streets selected for traffic calming need to be evaluated
to determine drainage
impacts. These concerns will be reviewed with the Streets and
Drainage Division prior to approval.
- If a street is a major conduit of storm water and its slope is
steep enough that a traffic
calming device would deflect storm water out of the public right
of way, device(s) will be selected to minimize or eliminate this problem.
- The variety of traffic calming devices that shall be employed
shall meet objectives in
accordance with sound engineering practices. The City of Santa Fe
Traffic Division directs
the installation of all traffic control devices in compliance
with applicable laws and the Manual
on Uniform Traffic Control Devices.
- Speed humps shall not be used on any street with more than one
travel lane in each direction.
- Reasonable automobile access will be maintained. Pedestrian,
bicycle, and transit access will
be enhanced where possible and practical.
- Parking removal shall be considered on a project by project
basis. It shall be balanced with
other needs.
- The program shall be implemented according to city codes and
related policies within
applicable resources. The procedures outlined in this document
shall be used.
- A survey of the residents and property-owners who were surveyed
for initial approval of the
traffic management plan may be conducted by city staff after the
evaluation period to
determine if some aspect of the installation no longer meets the
needs of a neighborhood. If
75% of the people surveyed agree that a device or devices no
longer meet the needs of the
neighborhood, staff will review the performance of these devices
and will estimate the cost of
mitigating, revising or removing these devices.
- If a project meets criteria to be considered for a traffic
management and is ranked on the
priority list, but is unfunded, a neighborhood association may
elect to provide funds for the
design and construction of such devices upon approval of the
Traffic Division in accordance
with city policies and these procedures.
- Special events are not eligible for the funding and
installation of traffic management devices
via this program.
- After a project is implemented, if tests indicate hazards
which had not been forseen, the
installation may be revised or removed at any time at the
discretion of the Traffic Division.
The City will not forward a survey in this situation, although
notice will be provided to residents in the project area.
Last update 14 July 2000 - HvH