Traffic-calming program to expand

Balto. Co. officials say revised rules will allow speed bumps, other devices on more roads

By Laura Barnhardt | Sun reporter
December 30, 2007
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Now county officials are preparing to relax the qualifications for the program that began four years ago.

Fewer vehicles will have to travel roads where residents see a speeding problem to qualify for a speed bump. And under the revised requirements that take effect next month, the drivers won't have to be traveling as fast.

For example, streets can now qualify for a speed bump if at least 100 cars use the road during its peak hour of use and travel at speeds 10 mph above the posted limit.

Under the old rules, 150 vehicles had to travel on the road during the peak hour.
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"I think the changes will make [the program] more equitable," said Councilman John Olszewski Sr., who requested last year that the county's planning board review the criteria.

To allow more streets to qualify, the county's planning board approved loosening the program requirements last month. Neighborhoods that now will qualify will be notified by county officials in January, said Keith Link, head of the county's traffic-calming program.

Baltimore County developed the traffic-calming program in 2003, allowing communities to petition for speed bumps, concrete funnels and traffic circles.

Speed bumps and other measures designed to slow traffic have been installed on about 60 residential streets since the program began, Link said.
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Still, the program has been so wildly - and widely - popular that there is always a waiting list. And about 80 percent of those who have asked for traffic-slowing devices have not met the standards set by the county, said David Fidler, a spokesman for the county's Department of Public Works.
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"This is an issue that resonates with residents countywide, not just in my district" said Olszewski, a Dundalk Democrat.

When neighborhood groups were turned down, even after they collected the required number of signatures or after engineers found that drivers were in fact speeding, Olszewski said, "It was frustrating to a lot of people."

Councilman Vincent J. Gardina, a Towson-Perry Hall Democrat, said some residents in his district were only a few cars short of the volume required to have a speed bump installed.
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