November 14, 2024
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What’s the policy?

A breakdown of how the new Bangor traffic calming policy works:

For a street, section of a street or neighborhood to be considered for traffic calming measures, it would have to meet the following conditions:

. The speed limit is 25 mph.

. The street must not be a designated state or federal highway.

. It may not be more than two lanes wide.

. At least 75 percent of its total street frontage must be residential, and there must be at least 12 dwellings for each 1,000 feet of frontage, counting both sides.

. Residents of the street must request that action be taken.

If those conditions are met, city staff will perform a preliminary traffic study. If the study suggests traffic calming measures are warranted, projects then would have to meet the following additional conditions:

. At least 85 percent of vehicles traveling that street would have to be recorded on radar going at least 7 mph above the posted speed limit.

. The average daily traffic count would have to exceed 1,000 vehicles with at least 30 percent of that being cut-through traffic.

. There would have to have been at least three accidents on the street or section of street during the previous year.

If a street or neighborhood met only two of the three conditions above, it might still qualify for traffic calming steps if:

. Sidewalks were not available for its full length on at least one side.

. A portion of the street was posted at 20 mph because of a nearby elementary or middle school.

. A designated school walking route street crossing, namely one staffed by a crossing guard, is present.

Any projects that arose from the policy then would have to be funded or put on a city to-do list.


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