Town Considers Neighborhood Traffic Calming Guide

Earlier this month the Town of Herndon released a draft of its new Neighborhood Traffic Calming Guide.

The town is hoping to implement the program to help neighborhoods request traffic calming measures and make local streets safer.

To start the process, a neighborhood street would need to meet eligibility criteria. The street would need to be a two-lane residential local or collector street with a posted speed limit of 25 miles per hour. It would also have to have one of the following:

• the 85th percentile speed on the street is equal or greater than 30 miles per hour
• an accident history of two accidents in the past 12 months
• enforcement history that shows more than 15 traffic summonses issued in 10 hours of enforcement, or 30 summonses in the last six months

The town will complete a traffic volume and speed study to help determine if the neighborhood is eligible. Residents who live on streets that do not meet the criteria will be advised as such, and will have to wait two years before the street can be re-evaluated.

One possible course of action after eligibility is the Traffic Safety Watch Program, which residents take part in similar to a Neighborhood Watch Program. They organize with police to keep a watch on their neighborhoods.

The next step to addressing speeding in a residential area is educating those who drive through the area. This would include distributing literature after stopping vehicles going more than 4 miles per hour over the speed limit, the use of speed trailers, a speed watch program conducted by the Herndon Police Citizens Support Team, and community involvement.

Herndon Police Capt. Brad Anzengruber said talking with drivers who are stopped for going 4 miles per hour or more over the speed limit helps to sober them up. He said during a trial run on Missouri Avenue one of the things police talked to drivers about is the percentage of children killed by speeders in residential areas.

Another option to help curb speeding drivers would be regular enforcement, where motorists see the area patrolled regularly and their awareness of the speed limit is heightened.

The last possible step to address speeding in the Neighborhood Traffic Calming Guide is engineering physical deterrents.

During a presentation to the Town Council, Bob Boxer, director of public works, said the first option would be to implement small changes such signage or new paint lines. If the those changes aren’t sufficient the town would look at major improvements such as speed tables and chokers, or widened curbs that narrow the road.

The Town of Herndon is seeking comments from citizens on the proposed Neighborhood Traffic Calming Guide. Residents can send comments to publicworks@herndon-va.gov or call the department of public works at 703-435-6853. Click here to download the complete proposed guide.