A traffic-calming policy could be an effective tool for slowing vehicles and improving safety in Reading, City Engineer Timothy Krall said, but education and enforcement should come first.
Traffic calming is a set of measures aimed at improving the safety, mobility and comfort of pedestrians and cyclists by reducing the speed or volume of vehicles in residential and commercial areas, according to PennDOT.
Examples include lane narrowing, speed bumps or other obstacles, roundabouts and raised pedestrian crossings.
“A traffic-calming policy would be very good for the city, if the city wants to go in that direction,” Krall said at a recent City Council committee of the whole meeting.
Traffic-calming measures are not mandatory, but can be effective if applied in the correct manner, Krall said. However, he said, such measures would come at a cost.
About $76,000 would be needed for a preliminary study, he said.
“Funding is going to be very critical here,” Krall said, “because every dollar we spend on developing traffic calming is $1 we probably won’t be able to spend doing traffic signal maintenance and pavement markers and the things that really need to get done that we’re required to do, curb repairs and sidewalks.”
Traffic education and enforcement should take priority, he noted.
“Educating our drivers with the speed limit and how to drive and behave properly when you’re driving in the city,” he said. “And then, of course, enforcement, those are priority. Those come first before we spend money on installing policy measures for traffic calming.”
Education and enforcement are particularly important when it comes to state roads, such as Hampden Boulevard, he said.
Krall said PennDOT will want to see that the city has done its due diligence in educating the public and enforcing the traffic regulations.
“That’s going to be definitely part of the policy and part of something that we’re going to want to be able to demonstrate when we present our (traffic-calming) plans to PennDOT,” he said.
The city has a longstanding set of official instructions, known as the Complete Streets Directive, Krall said. The directive also aims at enhancing bicyclist and pedestrian safety, but is limited, he said.
Something more comprehensive is called for, he said, noting a policy could include plans for specific locations.
Several recent public works projects targeted traffic calming in specific areas, he said, and included extending no-parking areas at the intersections of North Fifth and Douglass streets and Oley and Woodward streets.
No-parking zones help improve sight lines at intersections, he noted.
The intersection of North 13th and Pike streets was initially targeted for a four-way stop sign, but it was determined that a four-way stop was not appropriate or warranted there, Krall said.
“So the alternative was to put in extended no-parking zones,” he said.
Source: Berkshire mont
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