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Traffic Calming

Traffic Calming is the combination of mainly physical measures that reduce the negative effects of motor vehicle use, alter driver behavior and improve conditions for non-motorized street users. The purpose of traffic calming is to reduce the speed and volume of traffic along a roadway to acceptable levels.

PW Engineering is a service provider for the following Metro Townships: Copperton, Emigration Canyon, Kearns, Magna, and White City. We also proved services to residents of Unincorporated Salt Lake County and the Town of Brighton.

PW Engineering does not provide services to any incorporated city.

Please submit traffic calming requests to Ahmed Dahir.

Resources

Did You Know

  • The speed limit on all residential streets in the Unincorporated County is 25 mph unless otherwise posted.
  • At 20 mph it takes 46 feet to come to a stop.
  • At 30 mph the stopping distance nearly doubles to 87 feet.
  • At 40 mph the stopping distance more than triples to 140 feet.
  • The effectiveness of restraint devices like air bags and safety belts, and vehicular construction features such as crumple zones and side member beams decline as impact speed increases. (USDOT, NHTSA)
  • If you were to crash into a barrier at 45 mph your impact speed would be roughly the same as that reached after falling from a seven story building.
  • The travel time savings from an increase in speed is minimal. For example, if you drive 45 mph instead of 35 mph on a five-mile trip, you will save less than two minutes before arriving at your destination. (USDOT, NHTSA)
  • Speed, as defined as exceeding the posted speed limit or traveling too fast for conditions, is cited as a contributing factor in approximately 30 percent of fatal crashes. (NHTSA)

What Can You Do

Many residents have asked what they can do to reduce the speeding problem without the use of speed humps. Some of the methods used to reduce speeds in your neighborhood follow:

  1. Talk to neighbors, make them aware of the speed problem.
  2. Make sure no one in your house and your visitors are not part of the problem.
  3. Work with your Community Council to develop a community-wide awareness program.
  4. Ask the Sheriff's representative at the Community Council to increase enforcement of your roadway or set up speed trailers.
  5. Use your front yard. Studies have shown that increased activity near the roadway, slows traffic.
      • This idea originates from long ago when neighborhood streets were places of social gatherings as much as places for vehicles to travel upon. As the number of cars increased, we lost the social interaction that took place in the street. Kids stopped playing on the sidewalk and even in the front yard. Adults stopped interacting with their neighbors and even started driving their children to school as safety concerns on the street became a factor.
      • Work with neighbors to implement ideas that make front yards, sidewalks and streets friendly to pedestrians, bicyclists, playing, and have conversations.
      • Make your front yard an extension of your home by reading a book sitting near the sidewalk or do chores in the front yard such as painting furniture. Be creative in whatever you do.
  6. Use your creativity to make your neighborhood slow down (avoid illegal techniques).

Options Available for Traffic Calming

Option 1: 

Request the County to analyze a street for traffic calming which will place them on a priority list based on speed, number of vehicles on the road, and pedestrian generators (schools, parks, etc). The higher the project is on the priority list the sooner the project can be completed when funds are available. A surcharge on motor vehicle moving violations provides annual funding.

Requests must be made in writing and include signatures from ten (10) different property owners adjacent to the roadway where the traffic calming is requested.

Option2: 

Create a Local Improvement District (LID) where the residents pay for traffic calming and the County installs it.

 

Send Requests to:

Salt Lake County Engineering
Attn: Ahmed Dahir
2001 South State, N3-120
Salt Lake City, UT 84190

adahir@slco.org