MEMORANDUM

To: City Council

From: David J. Deutsch, City Manager

Subject: Traffic Calming Update

Date: May 21, 2008

In accordance with the attached April 17, 2008 memo (see attachment 1), Public Works performed a traffic calming warrant analysis on Excalibur Road (see attachment 2) and Pin Oak Parkway (see attachment 3). The Prince George’s County warrants were used. The County warrants are incorporated in their Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP). This is an established program and Public Works staff believes it is as good or better than any they had looked at in the past.

Excalibur Road

Staff was asked to perform a warrant analysis on the section of Evergreen Parkway from Route 301 to Mitchellville Road. Staff gathered traffic volume, speed and accident data for a three year period. This is a four lane, fifty-two foot wide roadway with no houses fronting on it. It is considered an arterial/collector roadway that connects two major routes – Route 301 and Mitchellville Road. It averages over 7,000 vehicles per day.

The Prince George’s County NTMP only addresses “neighborhood residential streets and does not include arterial and collector type roadways that are in our roadway system classification. These roadways are classified as arterial/collector roadways and typically have a wider (right-of-way) that collects two major routes. Arterial/collector roadways are exempt from the installation of NTMP’s physical devices as they are designed to accommodate higher volumes of traffic at relatively higher speed to handle increased capacity and also to minimize the reduction of emergency response times, especially for large trucks using these roadways.”

Staff met with the person in charge of the NTMP for Prince George’s County DPW&T to go over the data they had gathered on Excalibur Road as well as Pin Oak Parkway. After reviewing the data, as well as the mapping, the County representative stated that Prince George’s County would not consider installing speed humps on a street like Excalibur Road, for the reasons above. And regardless of street classification, they normally don’t consider speed humps on streets wider than forty (40) feet or streets with traffic over 5,000 vehicles per day. However, we have no requirement to follow the Prince George’s County warrants.

Pin Oak Parkway

Public Works was also requested to analyze Pin Oak Parkway in the area of Tall Oaks Crossing, which extends from Hall Road to the second intersection with Peachtree Lane, a total distance of slightly over one mile. This is a two lane residential collector that varies in width. It averages between 1,600 and 1,700 vehicles per day.

Again, staff met with the person in charge of the County’s traffic calming program to review the speed, volume and accident data staff had gathered for a three year period. Based on this data, staff determined that Pin Oak Parkway doesn’t meet the County warrants for speed humps. Please note that, if it had met the warrants, then 60% of the people whose homes front on Pin Oak Parkway would have had to sign a petition requesting the speed humps to be installed.

However, the County is just finalizing an alternate process. It is meant for locations that don’t meet the speed, volume and accident warrants, but which have a very high percentage of residents who want the speed humps installed. In cases like that, the County will require that 90% of the homeowners along the affected street (Pin Oak Parkway) sign the petition for the speed humps. Plus, 60% of the homeowners on the side streets must sign the petition. Note that there are only eleven homes fronting on Pin Oak Parkway and those are all congregated in the last block between Pepperidge Drive and Peachtree Lane.

Staff is planning on attending the Tall Oaks Crossing HOA meeting in early June to determine the extent of neighborhood support for speed humps and on which sections of Pin Oak Parkway they desire them to be installed. Currently, it appears that the HOA management company has been the clearinghouse for residential speeding complaints in Tall Oaks Crossing.

It is important to note that County staff pointed out that, depending on what sections of Pin Oak Parkway the residents want speed humps installed, it is likely that traffic will take shortcuts across Pear Tree Drive and/or Peachtree Lane. In cases like that, the County would normally require that speed humps be installed on all three streets to avoid a significant traffic increase on Pear Tree Drive or Peachtree Lane, that currently have relatively less traffic.

Please note also that, although Pin Oak Parkway did not meet the warrants for speed humps (Level II), it did meet the warrants for non-structural measures (Level I). These include the installation of white lane lines along the edge of Pin Oak Parkway, similar to those that we painted on Stonybrook, Kenhill and Belair Drives and Pittsfield Lane. Lane lines normally lower average speeds between two and three miles per hour. And they can help guide cars to stay away from the curb. This could reduce accidents on Pin Oak Parkway, since nine of the ten reported accidents over the three year period were from hitting a fixed object. Of these, the police reported only one accident as being caused by a driver going “Too Fast For Conditions”. The police cited most of these accidents as being caused by a driver who “Failed to Give Full Time/Attention”. The installation of white lane lines could help keep these drivers focused on the roadway.

Another measure which we could provide under Level I is a Speed Awareness Program (See Attachment 4). If at least ten members of the Tall Oaks community are concerned enough about speeding to participate, we could set up a Speed Awareness Day for them on Pin Oak Parkway. We did this several years ago on Buckingham Drive. It was well received by the residents who participated and provided an opportunity for a police officer and the community to interact and work together.

Other Issues

Although Bowie has no requirement to follow Prince George’s County warrants, the City Attorney has indicated a concern that we don’t have any adopted warrants for speed hump installations. She feels that, if the City installs speed humps on City streets, even as a demonstration project, we could have legal exposure should an accident occur related to the hump installations.

In addition, County Fire Department access should be considered. Normally, the County invites the Fire Department to their neighborhood meetings, where County Public Works staff presents the proposed speed hump locations. The County Fire Department has agreed to attend your work session to discuss the issue and answer questions from Council.

Recommendation

At this point, staff would recommend that a City warrant process and standards be approved by City Council prior to installing speed humps as a demonstration project on either Excalibur Road or Pin Oak Parkway. If City Council endorses this recommendation, staff will bring an ordinance to City Council for your consideration shortly. The adoption of warrants and standards would put the City on sounder legal footing regarding the implementation of this pilot program.