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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:
- New - Neighborhood Traffic Management Program A program specifically for neighborhood/local streets. Dealing with traffic calming, pedestrian safety, intersection safety and other neighborhood concerns.
- 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
Neighborhood Traffic Management Program
The City of Bloomington has developed a Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) to make moving around Bloomington neighborhoods safer and more comfortable for all. Unsafe driving behavior affects people walking, biking, and rolling on streets; people living in neighborhoods; people visiting nearby businesses, parks, and schools; and other drivers using the street. This program will improve safety and mobility by identifying traffic challenges and opportunities to fix them, making traffic safety programs easier for residents to use, and affirming the City’s commitment to the safety and livability of its neighborhoods by supporting safe mobility.
The Neighborhood Traffic Management Program strives to create a safe and livable Bloomington where all people can use streets to get where they need to go. To achieve this vision, the NTMP focuses on managing traffic speeds, improving safety, and increasing access for people walking, biking, and taking transit.
The NTMP primarily focuses on local streets within the City's jurisdiction.
- Improve Safety for All Roadway Users
- Enhance Mobility so people can move freely and easily
- Remove Barriers to Accessibility so people of all agesand abilities can access their destinations
- Advance Equity so the benefits of the program are shared and easily accessed
- Develop a program with Efficacy and Fiscal Sustainability in mind. The program should provide cost-effective, high-impact benefits.
- Create a program that is Clear and Easy to Understand – and more accessible to the community
Only local streets are eligible for this program, since these are the streets that the City owns and due to the types of
activities on local streets, traffic levels and speed levels of these streets. Streets with planned construction through the Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) or Pavement Management Program (PMP) are still eligible as well. Streets that are not eligible include:
- Cul-de-sacs or blocks less than 250 feet in length: Implementation of a traffic calming tool requires more space and is less useful without thru traffic that is less likely to be speeding.
- Larger streets (such as Lyndale Avenue, American Boulevard, 86th Street): The traffic calming tools are generally appropriate for streets with lower traffic volume and speeds than these. Additional safety measures beyond the toolbox are applicable for larger streets.
- Streets under County or MnDOT jurisdiction, or privately- owned streets: Traffic calming may be installed by the agencies responsible for the street.
Streets with active construction: Construction typically disrupts traffic and would make the study of an area inaccurate to the long-term functioning of the street
The process is summarized below. Full descriptions can be found in the procedure document.
- Public Request (January - Year 1)
- Request Prioritization (February)
- Information Gathering (March - September)
- Community Input (June - September)
- Approval (September - October)
- Implementation (Year 2)
- Evaluation (Year 2-4)
The program is designed to be adaptable. There are multiple places in the process where staff can opt to immediately implement safety improvements or not go forward with requests. These could happen in the following steps of the process:
- Public Request: City staff can determine that a public request represents an immediate and significant safety issue that needs to be addressed immediately outside of the request cycle.
- Request Prioritization: If a request does not score highly, it can be considered in a future cycle.
- Information Gathering: Data collection may indicate that the problem does not need to be investigated further.
- Community Input: Feedback from the community may demonstrate that the safety problem is larger than can be addressed within the scope of this program.
Implementation of temporary solutions and subsequent community engagement may demonstrate that the safety problem has been solved by the temporary solution.
Staff developed a set of criteria for prioritizing traffic
calming requests that accounted for both traffic safety as well as the demographic characteristics of the potential project area which provide additional perspective on equity considerations.
The prioritization criteria identified include:
- Traffic
- Safety / Pedestrian and Bicycle Experience
- Equity
- Community Destinations
- Number of People
Staff developed measures, thresholds, and weighting for the recommended traffic calming prioritization criteria.
Each traffic calming application is evaluated by Public Works using these considerations and prioritized based on its needs. The quantitative criteria were selected based on data that reflected transportation needs and community priorities, as well as data that were readily available and easy to understand. Additional information about the methodology and data sources is included in Appendix H in the Neighborhood Traffic Management Program Procedure Document
OVERVIEW
A variety of traffic calming treatments exist, and the appropriateness of each treatment depends on the context. Staff developed a toolbox of options to streamline the decision-making process about which treatments are suitable by providing a set of proven and cost-effective tools to choose from.
Under Construction - more to follow
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.
- FAQ - Video Camera's at Signalized Intersections
- Traffic Calming ... for Communities
Institute of Transportation Engineers Web site. - Guidelines for the Conversion of 4-lane Undivided Roadways to 3-lane 2-wayLeft-turn Lane Facilities
Iowa State University's Institute for Transportation web site. - ITE.org - Institute of Transportation Engineers
- LRRB.org - Minnesota Local Road Research Board
- Speed Limits: Why Do We Have Them?: http://youtu.be/8edH-toBesM
- Stop Signs: Why Do We Have Them on Residential Roads?: http://youtu.be/1SmbL5Oo15c
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.