Traffic Calming Policy

Traffic Calming Proposals

Fayetteville residents with concerns about excessive traffic speeds in their neighborhood may apply to the City for traffic calming measures to be implemented.

The process involves the following steps:

  1. Residents submit traffic calming request to the City’s Engineering department. Complete the online form.
  2. City staff assess the request to see if it meets requirements and to determine affected area.
  3. City contact requestor to outline next steps for confirming neighborhood support. 
  4. If neighborhood support meets required minimum, City staff conducts of a traffic study in the area to confirm the need for traffic calming
  5. City proposes traffic calming strategy and neighborhood residents must approve.
  6. City Council Transportation Committee prioritizes and selects projects for completion.

Certain restrictions apply: 

  • Only residential links or urban center streets are eligible.
  • The street should have an Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of less than 4,000.
  • Limited to streets having only one lane of through traffic in each direction.
  • Streets must not be primary emergency routes, as determined by the Police and Fire Departments.
  • At the discretion of the City Engineer, certain traffic calming measures may not be used if they would create an unsafe condition for motorists driving at normal speeds under average driving conditions.
  • Streets must not be through truck routes unless an acceptable alternative route is identified and approved. Design of traffic calming features shall accommodate a single unit truck.

Please remember that although traffic calming strategies can have the desired benefits in the targeted area, they also can create disadvantages to adjacent streets and neighborhoods. These factors are taken into consideration by City staff when reviewing traffic calming requests.


View the full Traffic Calming Policy (PDF)

Click on image to enlarge

Flow chart image showing steps involved in requesting traffic calming measures.

Initiating a Traffic Calming Proposal

Residents can make a traffic calming request by emailing the City's Engineering Department. Complete the online form. The City will review the request and determine the area that would be affected if traffic calming measures were put in place. 

A City staff member will then get in contact with the requestor with next steps, which include circulating a neighborhood petition within the affected area to gather signatures of approval from a minimum of 70% of the property owners on the targeted street(s).

Requests for traffic calming will be assigned to one of three tiers:

  1. Tier 1: Proximity to Schools (within ½ mile) or other significant points of interest 
  2. Tier 2: Obvious cut-through opportunities for traffic 
  3. Tier 3: Dead-end or disconnected areas of the transportation network (This tier will generally not be considered for structural traffic calming but may be considered for enforcement efforts and are eligible for consideration of tactical urbanism permits. (Learn more about the City's tactical urbanism program.)

Assessment of Proposal and Traffic Study

City staff will review each request on a case-by-case basis to assess whether other streets may be impacted by implementation of traffic calming strategies. If the request meets required standards, Tier 1 and 2 requests will then receive a traffic study. 

The data collected in the traffic study will be used to assign point values as detailed below. Locations receiving a minimum of 35 points, or that have 85th percentile speeds above 35 mph will receive further consideration for traffic calming.

  • Speed: Five (5) points for each MPH great than 5 MPH above the posted speed.
  • Volume: Average Daily Traffic (ADT) of 100 or more
  • Sidewalks: Five (5) points if no continuous sidewalk, two and a half (2.5) points if sidewalk available on one side. 
  • Accidents: One (1) point for each accident/year at one location (max. 5 pts)
  • School Proximity: Ten (10) points with a quarter-mile radius of a school, Seven and a half (7.5) points if between quarter- and half-mile radius, five (5) points within half-mile radius, two and a half (2.5) points if partially in half-mile radius.

Presentation of Traffic Calming Strategies

Where traffic calming may be appropriate, City staff will present options for traffic calming in the affected area. Sixty percent (60%) or more of the property owners in that area must support the proposed strategy before the City will give further consideration to traffic calming implementation.

Selection of Traffic Calming Proposals

City staff will prioritize approved traffic calming proposals. The City Council Transportation Committee will approve projects to be implemented up to the yearly budget as determined by Council. Those approved proposals not selected will remain in consideration for up to three years. 

Evaluation

Six months following the completion of the traffic calming improvements, City staff may undertake a follow-up study to determine if the traffic calming features have achieved their purpose. If unacceptable impacts are identified, corrective measures may be taken. Traffic calming measures may be removed after the evaluation period for any of the following reasons:

  1.  Emergency response is significantly impacted.
  2. The problem for which the traffic calming was implemented has been transferred to another street.
  3. At least sixty percent (60%) of the property owners in the defined area of impact sign a petition to remove the traffic calming measures.