SPRINGDALE -- Todd Setser and some of his neighbors have approached the City Council several times about slowing down drivers.

They live on East Lakeview Drive near its intersection with South Turner Street, just north of Lake Fayetteville.

Jan Shaddox told the council June 2 drivers will "drag race" side by side on Lakeview and Turner, both two-lane roads.

Lakeview residents want the city to install a speed table.

But solving the problem is not that simple, city officials say.

People might slow down for speed tables, but they often speed up between them, said Mayor Doug Sprouse.

"And we know lowering the speed limit doesn't work," he said.

Sprouse said the city will continue to look at options for residents. He said he sees success on West Maple Avenue by the Springdale Public Library, where paint and concrete wheel-stop barriers were used to narrow the lanes. He thinks that might be a solution for Lakeview.

"This is not a new problem," Sprouse said. "The residents on Lakeview aren't the first ones to have this issue. We try different things and some are more successful than others."

The city has a policy that outlines its steps for slowing traffic calming, which includes study, said Ryan Carr, assistant director of engineering. Permanent fixes are expensive and block emergency vehicles.

"Traffic calming is the management of traffic through the use of roadway design features," the city's policy states. The features can include installing speed humps, speed tables and speed cushions or bumping out a curb or narrowing the lanes.

The city installed three speed cushions last year at a total cost of $10,000, said James Smith, director of the Public Works Department.

A speed cushion is a speed bump designed to let heavy duty, low lying emergency vehicles pass without slowing or damaging the vehicle, Carr said.

The Engineering Department follows the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices from the U.S. Department of Transportation, Carr said. The manual gives cities guidance on signs, striping and other traffic matters to ensure consistency in cities across the nation. For example, drivers will see the same sign for handicapped parking in Fayetteville, Rogers or Seattle and know what it means, he said.

Carr said city staff in several departments plan to review the city's traffic-calming policy soon. The City Council adopted the policy in 2014.

"Speeding is a problem and not just in Springdale," said Capt. Jeff Taylor, a spokesman for the Springdale Police Department. "It's a problem in Arkansas. It's a problem across the country."

Speed plays a factor in wrecks, often increasing severity of injuries -- especially if a pedestrian is involved, Taylor said.

The faster a driver is going, the longer it takes to stop.

Taylor noted police will patrol areas when residents call in reports of speeding. But radar and speed trailers don't always show the speeding residents report.

Drivers often slow when seeing a patrol car or speed trailer, and residents can overestimate how fast cars are traveling, he said.

Carr said fixes for traffic calming fall into three categories.

Level 1 traffic calming measures focus on education about traffic and road safety and increasing awareness of posted speed limits and safety issues, reads the city policy.

"These are the least intrusive and lowest cost measures," Carr said.

These include adding signs, deploying a radar trailer at the site to record speeds and alert drivers to their speeds.

The Police Department will provide more patrols in an area and patrols dedicated to speeding, Taylor said.

But an officer set to radar traffic might be dispatched to another call, and it could be five hours before he can get back to traffic patrol, Taylor said.

"We've got 450 lane miles of street in Springdale, and the Police Department can't be everywhere," Taylor said.

Level 2 measures can bring minor changes to the street, measures designed to help increase awareness and improve safety, the city policy continues. These can include installing traffic signs with blinking lights to alert drivers or narrowing traffic lanes.

The city already 0perates a flashing sign at Lakeview's intersection with Bogey Drive.

James Smith, director of the city's Public Works Department, said officials are considering slowing traffic along Turner Street by adding a center turn lane or bicycle lanes on the sides.

Officials still are reviewing options to improve Lakeview, Carr said.

But, signs and even paint to stripe the roads can be expensive, Smith said.

First, the asphalt must be milled to remove old paint and relay the asphalt, costing $1 per linear foot, he reported. Then paint costs 20 cents per linear foot for stripes 4 inches wide. Thermoplast paint, which lasts much longer and is used on major roads, costs $1.25 per linear foot, he said.

Level 3 speed control measures require major changes to the physical character of the street and typically cost more, the city policy says.

Adding speed humps, speed tables, speed cushions or curb and gutter, curb extensions with landscaping or a traffic circle all would fall under the category of street improvements paid from the city's capital improvement fund -- if City Council approves the project, said Brad Baldwin, the city's director of engineering.

And each project would get in line with other projects on the city's to-do list.

Each project must be listed individually in the Public Works Department's budget, Baldwin said. So if city officials choose to install speed humps at Lakeview and Turner, the humps could not be built until Jan. 1, when the 2023 city budget takes effect.

The city now has only three traffic cushions -- speed humps with sections removed. Drivers of emergency vehicles must align their wheels with the grooves to roll through. They are on Dearing Road, Buckhead Avenue and New Hope Road. These were placed to slow drivers who use these residential streets to avoid traffic on Interstate 49 and Arkansas 112.

Smith said the three speed cushions cost about $10,000 total.

"Are the requirements so stringent that we only have speed cushions in three locations?" asked Council member Jeff Watson.

Residents will call police to complain about speeding, but officers patrolling those areas often don't see the amount of speeding callers do, Taylor said.

Police issued five citations and 10 citizen contact reports on Lakeview in June, Taylor said. He said there were several more on nearby streets. And the data doesn't show the reason for the stop, he said. The driver might not be wearing a seat belt, might have an outdated license plate tag or another violation, he said.

City staff will conduct speed studies, vehicle and pedestrian counts, through-traffic surveys, accident reports and intersection capability as they consider changes, Carr said.

Drainage, noise, parking, pedestrians and bicyclists, visual impact, cost, maintenance and impact on surrounding streets also factor into a decision, he said.

Then city policy requires 75% of residents surrounding the area to approve the change.

The city won't install a traffic calming device on major streets designed to carry lots of traffic, the city policy notes. Those major streets also are routes for emergency service vehicles, which would slow response times, and snow and ice removal vehicles, which would pull the obstacles up and perhaps damage the vehicles.

Lakeview and Turner both are collector streets and snow routes, Carr said.

"So we can only put devices on low-volume local streets," Sprouse said. "But that's where we want them to slow down."

Six months following the completion of traffic-calming improvements, the city will do a follow-up study to determine if the features have achieved the initial purpose of the project.

If unacceptable impacts are identified, corrective measures may be taken, including removing traffic-calming measures.

Print Headline: City to consider traffic-calming measures

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