The City of Fort Worth is considering changes to its neighborhood traffic calming program, in effect since 2022, to address lessons learned by the city’s Transportation and Public Works Department as well as best practices from similar programs in other Texas cities.
These changes were presented Sept. 16 to the city’s Infrastructure and Growth Committee for discussion. The committee comprises six members of the Fort Worth City Council: Macy Hill, Deborah Peoples, Alan Blaylock, Michael Crain, Chris Nettles and Jeanette Martinez.
Although the program is in high demand, and speeding is a top contributor to fatal and serious injury crashes in the city, there have been several issues:
- Many of the requests do not meet program criteria. For example, when a request is received to add traffic calming devices to a street, the city collects data on traffic speed on that street. Only 14% of the requests made since 2022 have met the criteria for traffic speed.
- Submitted requests do not align well with those areas where serious accidents occur. Only 9% of requests apply to corridors on the Fort Worth Vision Zero high-injury network, where 54% of fatal and severe injury crashes occur.
- Because traffic patterns change when schools are closed, data collection is not available year-round, which slows applications.
- Once TPW confirms an application is eligible, the requester must coordinate a petition with residents in the affected area to ensure sufficient awareness and agreement with any changes. Only about two-thirds of petitions are completed.
Infrastructure and Growth Committee
Documenter name: Ken Garlington…