Tag Archives: traffic calming

Traffic Calming Study/Proposed Speed Humps

Posted on by

IT’S TIME TO VOTE IF YOU WANT TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE!

traffic calming

Questions?
dept-tci-rtm-ballot@loudoun.gov
703-737-8624

Overview of Traffic Calming Study

Following resident concerns regarding speeding on neighborhood roads, the Broadlands Board of Directors submitted a request to Loudoun County Department of Transportation and Capital Infrastructure (DTCI) to conduct engineering studies on roads where speeding had been reported.  In 2019, DTCI developed a residential traffic management guide that outlines the process by which owners and homeowners’ associations can request traffic calming measures on the public residential roadways within their communities.  To qualify for such the engineering study, a road must meet eligibility requirements as follows: it must be a VDOT owned and maintained road; it must be a neighborhood street where residents connect to roadway via driveways; and it must have a posted speed limit of 25MPH or less. The roads studied were Chickacoan Trail Drive, Demott Drive, Glebe View Drive, Ridgeway Drive, and Village Drive. The studies were performed in September 2021. DTCI placed traffic monitoring devices in selected areas and monitored traffic volumes and speed over a 48-hour period. A roadway can qualify for proposed traffic calming measures if is meets the following measures: traffic volumes between 600 and 4,000 vehicles per day; 85th percentile observed speed must be 10MPH or more than the posted speed limit, so 15% or more of the vehicles must be going 10MPH or greater over the speed limit. Portions of Chickacoan Trail Drive, Demott Drive, Glebe View Drive, and Ridgeway Drive qualified, but Village Drive did not.  Complete details of the study, including the data collection locations and the time speed reports can be found in the information above.

Following their study, DTCI developed a conceptual plan that recommends the installation of speed humps in specific locations on each of the qualifying roadways.  The proposed speed humps are 10ft wide and three inches tall.  DTCI worked with all affected stakeholders, including Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office, Virginia Department of Transportation, Loudoun County Public Schools, Department of General Services, Department of Fire, Rescue & Emergency Management, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, and volunteers from Broadlands Association. The affected homes were broken down into four separate sections based on frequent travel routes and proximity to the proposed humps. Each of the four ballot areas are independent of each other.  In other words, residents off Glebe View Drive are voting related to speed humps on that road, residents off Demott Drive are voting related to speed humps on that road.  There may be some sections that receive enough support to install humps and some that do not.  Each section votes independent of the other sections.

Speed humps cannot be installed on inclines as they create ice dams, they cannot be installed near storm drains, and care and consideration were taken by county staff to try to minimize the impact and viewshed on fronting residences. The installation of speed humps requires greater than 50% of the affected homes in each of the areas to vote in favor.  A vote not cast is considered a no vote. DTCI has mailed out postcards to over 1,000 residents in each of the four areas, asking them to log on and cast their vote.  Each post card has a unique ID number associated with the unit. There is a 30-day window in which the votes can be cast, November 16 through December 16.  No votes will be accepted outside of that window.  If there is less than 51% support from the residents in each area, the speed humps cannot be installed in that area and another engineering study and traffic calming measures cannot be requested for another five years. If you are on the affected address list, which can be found in the above section, and you have misplaced or did not receive your postcard, you may request your ID number via email.  Requests must be submitted before November 30th to dept-tci-rtm-ballot@loudoun.gov and must include full name and address, and may include phone.  Only one vote per unit is permitted and votes can be cast by the resident of the unit, whether owner or renter.

Please review all of the information provided to make an informed decision on the suggested traffic calming measures.  Please check out https://www.loudoun.gov/rtmballot for more information and go to https://lfportal.loudoun.gov/Forms/Ballot-Form to cast your vote.  There is a link on the ballot form to an interactive map, which can also be found directly at https://loudoungis.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=598160259b014f42b23d6fe14e199aa8.