Neighborhood traffic management: Dade County, Florida's street closure experience

Institute of Transportation Engineers. ITE Journal, Jan 1998 by Castellone, Anthony J, Hasan, Muhammed M

Procedures for items 1 and 2 were well defined for municipalities and unincorporated Dade County. However, in the case of item 3, municipalities were not sure as to what their requirements and obligations were in terms of before-and- after traffic studies for street closure requests. It should be noted that MDCPW has jurisdiction for traffic control within 30 municipalities throughout the county. Therefore, prior to any traffic flow modifications, the municipalities are required to obtain concurrence from the MDCPW.

THE SURVEY

After reviewing previous procedures, studies and Metro-Dade County correspondence with municipalities and citizens concerning street closures, a questionnaire was developed with the purpose of contacting all municipalities within the county, advising them of the Street Closure Study, and requesting input concerning neighborhood traffic control issues. The survey was conducted primarily via mail, although several personal interviews were conducted with various state, county and local officials as well as local neighborhood associations, street closure activists and other professional engineers. The main topics covered in the survey included:

* The status of existing or pending street closures;

* Typical traffic control measures requested by citizens;

* Identification of typical residential traffic problems;

* Funding methods; and

* Perception of street closure performance.

The survey results revealed that elected officials must increasingly address a number of traffic, socioeconomic, legal and political issues. While the decision to restrict residential street access as a solution to residential traffic control problems has become a popular solution to address citizen complaints the survey also concluded that:

* The problem "to close or not to close" is common to many local governments within Dade County;

* Complex issues such as the relation of traffic intrusion vs. crime are unique to every neighborhood, and often critically debated;

* Creative engineering and planning solutions are needed to appease public and political sentiment;

* Traffic engineers must include the impacts of proposed traffic control measures on a macro-level, since implementing one solution may magnify other problems;

* A typical residents' solution to traffic problems often involves installing "Stop" signs, barricading roads or calling the police; and

* Alternative traffic mitigation techniques should be investigated prior to implementing street closure design.

The survey also confirmed a common thread among many local jurisdictions. That is, a formal process or procedure to identify existing traffic problems, explore a full range of solutions and evaluate potential impacts is often non-existent within most local government agencies.2

Once the issues common to street closure or traffic flow modification were identified, the project steering committee was then able to recommend pragmatic tools to allow governments to effectively address citizens' traffic operations concerns within their neighborhoods.