Development, Construction and Operations of a new Traffic Calming Tool

Traffic calming measures continue to be effective ways of re-designing our roads to reduce speeds, increase yielding, and improve safety in our urban areas. The processes to implement traffic calming, however, can be long and arduous due to the many obstacles to permanent construction. In many cases the obstacles to implementation of traffic calming result in large delays during which time there are on-going safety concerns or collisions in many cases. These obstacles include funding, utilities, drainage and public support, to name a few. To overcome some of these obstacles the City of Calgary developed a pre-cast concrete shape, called Traffic Calming Curbs (TC Curbs) that allow modular creation of common traffic calming features that can be deployed quickly, at a low cost, and with a high degree of flexibility. The innovative process to design and construct the TC Curbs is described as well as process considerations for implementing their placement and lessons learned so far regarding their use. Case studies of TC Curb placement are examined including geometric design, placement, winter operations, and supporting traffic control. More importantly, evaluations of changes in motorist behaviours such as speed and yielding behaviour, and perceptions of various stakeholders are presented. Initial indications are that TC Curbs are a useful and effective tool to implement traffic calming as either an interim or potentially long term solution.

Author

Churchill, A.
Domarad, J.
Mishra, S.

Session title

Improving Road Safety in Urban Areas

Organizers

Road Safety Standing Committee

Category

Road Safety

Year

2017

Format

Paper

File

 


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