Elon’s elected leaders have decided not to rush into anything as they consider a staff-driven proposal to let residents petition for anti-speeding measures like speed tables and stop signs within their own neighborhoods.
The members of Elon’s town council agreed to take this slow and deliberate approach to the staff’s proposed “traffic calming” policy after the town’s planning director approached them recently with a multi-departmental draft of this regulatory initiative.
During her pitch to the council in late May, planning director Lori Oakley recalled that she and other municipal staff members had spent several months piecing their proposal together in response to repeated complaints about speeding from residents in some of the town’s neighborhoods.
Oakley added that she and her colleagues ultimately decided to model their plan on an existing policy in Mebane, where a neighborhood petition triggers a staff-level evaluation of various “traffic calming” devices. (Oakley herself is a former member of that city’s planning board, prior to her tenure on Elon’s staff.)
According to Oakley’s proposal, a valid petition would represent at least 65 percent of the property along a particular municipal road. The receipt of such a petition would prompt a speed limit reduction – if, that is, the original speed limit is greater than than 25 miles an hour. After a three month trial period, the town’s leaders would hold a community meeting to assess the results of the speed limit change. Then, if problems with speeding persist, the town’s municipal staff may follow up with an evaluation of different anti-speeding measures.
Under Oakley’s proposal, not every road would be a candidate for some sort of traffic calming device. In order to qualify for an evaluation, a road must span at least 750 feet, bear at least 500 vehicles a day, and have a certain proportion of drivers that go 6 miles or more over the speed limit.
For roads that meet these criteria, Oakley’s proposal calls for a thorough, staff-level assessment that would include input from emergency services, the local school system, and other pertinent agencies. The town’s staff would then scrutinize a repertoire of potential anti-speeding devices, which may include things like all-way stop signs, road markings to simulate narrower lanes, and “speed tables” – a gentler, less jarring alternative to the infamous speed bump.
Oakley added that any potential measures would be presented to the neighborhood’s residents before they’re brought before the town council for final approval.
“Please note,” the town’s planning director went on to caution, “that traffic calming measures are based on the availability funding that the council has for these measures.”
Oakley’s systematic approach received a metaphorical honk of approval from councilmember Stephanie Bourland.
“I think it is fantastic. It is so clear cut. I think it is addressing a problem that our residents have talked about for a long time. . . and when we have so many people with different expertise agree on a plan, I think it’s good for our citizens.”
– Elon town council member Stephanie Bourland
“I think it is fantastic. It is so clear cut;” Bourland proclaimed. “I think it is addressing a problem that our residents have talked about for a long time…and when we have so many people with different expertise agree on a plan, I think it’s good for our citizens.”
But the planning director’s proposal didn’t go over as smoothly with all of the town’s elected officials.
Elon’s mayor Emily Sharpe suggested that Oakley’s multi-level evaluation process may be an overly elaborate way of arriving at what, in some cases, may be a self-evident answer.
“I think that sometimes we can overcomplicate things. A stop sign is very easy. . . So, let’s look for easy wins.”
– Elon mayor Emily Sharpe
“I think that sometimes we can overcomplicate things,” she added, “A stop sign is very easy…So, let’s look for easy wins.”
Sharpe added that a simple, all-way stop sign or two has struck her as the ideal solution to persistent complaints about speeding in the Cable Square subdivision on Elon’s northern periphery. But this seemingly obvious fix set off a caution light for Josh Johnson with Alley, Williams, Carmen & King, who serves as Elon’s town engineer.
“It does ‘calm’ traffic, but it does not reduce the police department’s load,” Johnson insisted. “The two primary issues are noise to the immediate neighbors…and then, safety-wise…you potentially increase the number of crashes…while reducing more significant ones…because you do get more rear end collisions.”
The town’s engineer conceded that stop signs are at least a viable option even if not the one he would ordinarily recommend. He couldn’t say the same thing about speed bumps, however, which he said could disqualify the town from receiving state revenue for road maintenance and repair.
Johnson went on to suggest speed tables as a more tenable way to discourage speeding. He also alluded to structural changes like bends or curves in the roadways that make it less tempting for drivers to gun the accelerator.
“You can also narrow the road with the chicane effect,” he said, employing a term of art for curves which force drivers to reduce speed, “and people will go as fast as they’re comfortable.”
Johnson’s observation about the impact of cramped, winding roads prompted Elon’s town manager Richard Roedner to hint that the town may be inadvertently encouraging speeding through its preference for wide, ample roads that are easy to negotiate.
“We have subdivision streets that are way too wide, and people drive at the speed that they’re comfortable,” he elaborated. “We’ve created a problem that doesn’t have an easy solution, and we need to use the right tools for that problem…A stop sign is an easy thing to do. But if it’s not warranted, people tend to ignore it.”
Meanwhile, councilman Randy Orwig speculated that, in some cases, the complaints that residents raise about speeding may prove to be much ado about nothing in the final analysis.
Speeding is also in the eye of the beholder,” the councilman added, “and I’m wondering if we’re making a tempest in a teapot.”
But the idea that the speeding isn’t a serious problem got very little traction with Jim King, a Cable Square resident who has approached the council more than once about the velocity of vehicles that pass through his part of town.
During that week’s discussion, King volunteered to “do the footwork” to obtain a valid petition from the residents of his own neighborhood. He nevertheless conceded that the traffic volume along Olsen Drive, where he resides, may not meet the proposed threshold of 500 vehicles a day that Oakley had proposed to the council.
King’s observation struck a chord with the town’s mayor, who insisted that the town should offer an alternative route to obtain traffic calming measures along streets that don’t meet the requirements in whatever policy the council ultimately adopts.
Yet, in the end, the consensus among the town’s elected leaders was that the planning director’s proposal is a good starting point for a careful and considered deliberation about the best way to address speeding-related complaints.
“I think it’s step in the right direction for us as a council,” insisted councilman Quinn Ray. “I do like the actionable steps that can be taken by the town…But we need to make sure we don’t give a false hope to the residents.”
