Contact Information

Contact Information

Paul Jarvis

Traffic Management Coordinator
Title

Traffic Engineering

Sections

Traffic Engineering works with residents and businesses on property access and traffic control. They also act as a liaison with other public jurisdictions on local and regional roads, walkways, bikeways and transit service.

There are two parts of the Traffic Management program:

  1. Local Streets: Local streets are streets that go into neighborhoods and provide access from a residence to a collector street. 
     
  2. Collector Streets: Collector streets are streets that collect traffic from local streets and carry it to a higher classified street that is designated to carry the traffic throughout the city and metro area.

The City's functional roadway classification map from the city's Comprehensive Plan 2008 shows the designated street classifications (any street designated lower than a collector, i.e. local street, is not marked on the legend of the map).

Traffic Engineering also works closely with the Maintenance Division which manages more than 4,000 roadway lights, 130 traffic signal systems and 15,000 signs

Traffic Management: Local street traffic

Traffic Management: Collector street traffic

The collector street striping reconfiguration policy was developed to address residents growing concerns about speeding on Bloomington's streets. The Council feels that many Bloomington collector streets were designed, at the time of construction, for volumes higher than are currently using them. Some research shows that wider driving area gives drivers the perception that they can drive faster, thereby resulting in faster driving speeds. The goal of reducing the drivable area with new striping is to give drivers more of a sense that they are traveling in a residential area and should maintain an appropriate speed.

The collector street striping reconfiguration policies, procedures and schedules were adopted by the City Council in 2005. Collector streets will be reviewed for possible striping changes during their pavement management program (PMP) improvement year. The program is set up to perform the changes along with the PMP striping so there will be no additional costs to the residents and City.

Current traffic studies

What's New

Past Projects and Studies

Education

This section is dedicated to sharing information about traffic calming and different traffic calming techniques - articles, websites with related information, studies, etc.

Section 8 City Code Update

In 2013, the City Council approved an ordinance to update Chapter 8 of the City Code which deals with Traffic, Vehicles and Parking. Prior to this update, this chapter of the City Code had not been amended or updated, in some cases, since it was originally written in 1958. The chapter was reorganized and updated to conform to Minnesota Statutes.

A companion On-Street Parking Policy was continued to the April 15, 2013 City Council meeting. The policy was continued indefinitely to allow staff to continue to refine the policy and bring it back to the City Council at a later date.