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Traffic calming is a set of strategies used by urban planners and traffic engineers which aim to slow down or reduce traffic, thereby improving safety for pedestrians and bicyclists as well as improving the environment for residents. Calming measures are common in Europe, especially Northern Europe; less so in North America.
Traffic calming was traditionally justified on the grounds of pedestrian safety and reduction of noise and local air pollution which are side effects of the traffic. However, streets have many social and recreational functions which are severely impaired by car traffic. The Livable Streets study found that residents of streets with light traffic had, on average, three more friends and twice as many acquaintances as the people on streets with heavy traffic which were otherwise similar in dimensions, income, etc. For much of the twentieth century, streets were designed by engineers who were charged only with ensuring traffic flow and not with fostering the other functions of streets. The basis for traffic calming is broadening traffic engineering to include designing for these functions.
There are 3 "E"'s that traffic engineers refer to when discussing traffic calming: engineering, (community) education, and (police) enforcement. Because neighborhood traffic management studies have shown that often it is the residents themselves who are contributing to the perceived speeding problem within the neighborhood, it is stressed that the most effective traffic calming plans will entail all three components, and that engineering measures alone will not produce satisfactory results.
Types of traffic-calming engineering measures
Traffic calming can include the following engineering measures:
- Narrower traffic lanes - streets can be narrowed by extending the sidewalk, adding bollards or planters, or adding a bike lane or parking. Narrowing traffic lanes differs from other road treatments by making slower speeds seem more natural to drivers and less of an artificial imposition, as opposed to most other treatments used that physically force lower speeds or restrict route choice.
- Speed bumps, sometimes split or offset in the middle to help emergency vehicles reduce delay
- Traffic circles, which are essentially small roundabouts
- Chicanes, which create a horizontal deflection causing vehicles to slow as they would for a curve
- Raised pedestrian crossings and raised intersection
- Curb extensions (also called bulbouts) which narrow the width of the roadway at pedestrian crossings
- Pedestrian refuges or small islands in the middle of the street
- Median diverters to prevent left turns or through movements into a residential area
- Changing the surface material or texture (for example, the selective use of brick or cobblestone)
- Additional stop or give way (yield) signs
- Converting one-way streets into two-way streets
- Chokers, which are curb extensions that narrow the roadway to a single lane at points
- Allowing parking on one or both sides of a street
- Converting an intersection into a cul-de-sac or dead end
- Boom barrier, restricting through traffic to authorised vehicles only.
- Closing of streets to create pedestrian zones
- Reducing speed limits near institutions such as schools and hospitals
- Speed feedback signs and "Slow down" warning signs that alert a driver when they exceed the speed limit.
Living street
A living street (sometimes known by the Dutch word woonerf, as the concept originated in the Netherlands) is a street in which the needs of car drivers are secondary to the needs of users of the street as a whole; traffic calming principles are integrated into their design.
See also
External links
- Donald Appleyard's Livable Streets study
- Overview from the city of Portland, Oregon
- Online Transportation Demand Management Encyclopedia
- TrafficCalming.org - A Practical Guide to Traffic Calming
- Transportation Alternatives - Traffic Calming group based in New York City
"Traffic calming"