The Traffic Calming Initiative for 2014-2015

The PHCA is happy to announce the the 2014-2015 traffic Calming initiative is well under way and we are making significant strides in our effort, but the biggest challenges still lay ahead. Below, we would like to share with you some background about what it is exactly that we are doing, where we are in the process, and how YOU can help us make our streets safer.

Background

Out of a growing concern over the increasing volume and speed of traffic through our neighborhood, the PHCA has formed the Traffic Calming committee in an attempt to address this growing issue. As many of you are likely aware, because our neighborhood is conveniently situated between or near many major thoroughfares (Route 7, Route 123, I-66, I-495), our streets suffer from a disproportionately high volume of "cut-through" traffic. As a result, our streets are plagued by drivers who zip through our neighborhood with little regard for the safety of its homeowners and, most importantly, our children.

It is clear that something needs to be done about the situation immediately, and we, the PHCA Traffic Calming Committee have taken action by engaging the local Fairfax County government on this issue. In May of 2014, the PHCA sent a formal request to Fairfax County to address this issue. Our neighborhood has since been working with Fairfax County, under the R-TAP program which is aimed at addressing Traffic-related problems for residential areas.

Current Status

The implementation of traffic calming measures is a multi-step process that must be initiated by the neighborhood Citizen's association. In our case, we, the PHCA have been pushing this process forward for several months now. Below is a table that shows where we are in the list of steps that are must be followed before any resulting measures can be implemented:

As shown in the table above, as of September 2014, FCDOT (Fairfax County Department of Transportation) has just completed the traffic counts (step 3 above) for the streets named in the original request and shared this data with us.

The data collected, as received from FCDOT is as follows:

The Qualifications for our roads (designated as "local roads") acceptance into the traffic calming program for all roads mentioned above are:

• Average speed of 30 mph OR 85th percentile speed of 35 mph
• Volume between 600 and 6,000 vehicles per day

As shown above, 4 out of the 5 of our requested streets have met the eligibility criteria to proceed with the traffic calming program. (YAY!)

UPDATE November 2014: We are happy to announce, as part of the request, we were able to get the watch for children signs installed on several of our neighborhood streets! As no ballot was require for such an action, the signs were installed by FCDOT in late October 2014.

We are now at Step 4, working with FCDOT to draft a conceptual plan for the implementation of traffic calming measures for the identified streets. As of December 2014, we the Traffic Calming committee, have scheduled a meeting with FCDOT on January 7, 2015 to discuss the Conceptual plan. Upon review and acceptance by FCDOT and the PHCA, the plan will then be presented to the neighborhood at large to solicit feedback.

Once that's all done, then comes the real hard part: the neighborhood residents for the affected streets will need to be balloted. A 50% response rate is required, and the majority of the responses must be in favor to implement the measures. Moreover, the County will only accept PAPER ballots at this time, making it extremely difficult for us to get the responses we need.

This is where we desperately need YOUR help. It will be extremely difficult to get the responses we need - from the paper ballots - given the size and fragmentation of our neighborhood. However, we are hopeful that we could offset this difficulty by raising awareness about this important issue, so that when the ballot comes, we will get the number of responses needed.

Below are images, provided courtesy of Fairfax county, that show the areas of the neighborhood that will be balloted:

Pimmit Drive North
Friden Dr to Magarity Ave

Lisle Avenue

Pimmit Drive
Rt7 to Friden Dr

Griffith Road

How YOU Can Help

Talk to your neighbors to let them know that it is important to respond to the ballot(s). Let them know about the urgency and importance of this issue to for our neighborhood's streets. If we get just one or two people from each block of the balloted areas above to spread the word and let their neighbors know to look out for the ballot(s) coming their way (sample below) we stand a much better chance of getting the measures being implemented.

Visit the Ballot Page for the Pimmit Drive North Traffic Calming Ballot

Download the Pimmit Dr North Traffic Calming Ballot Here