Plan to allow Athens communities to fund, build speed humps moves forward to commission

A proposed residential traffic management program that would allow Athens-Clarke County neighborhoods to fund their own traffic infrastructure improvements is on its way to the full Athens-Clarke County Commission for review and possible action.

The commission’s Legislative Review Committee completed work on the proposal at its June 12 meeting and voted to send it forward to the full commission.

The Voluntary Residential Traffic Management Program, if adopted by the commission, will not replace the existing Residential Traffic Management Program, but will serve as a companion to it.

Under the Residential Traffic Management Program, government funding is steered to a list of prioritized traffic-calming projects – speed humps and other measures – based on safety data.

The Voluntary Residential Traffic Management Program, on the other hand, would allow neighborhoods to fund their own traffic-calming projects under the guidance of the Traffic Engineering Division.

Under terms of the program as it is being forwarded to the full commission, at least 65% of the property owners affected by a proposed traffic-calming project must sign on to the initiative.

At one point, the Legislative Review Committee had contemplated requiring 100% of property owners to approve a proposed traffic-calming initiative. But during discussion at a previous committee meeting, members concluded 65% was an acceptable threshold, since some properties might be held by absentee owners who would have no incentive to participate in the program.

At least one committee member also noted that homeowner associations often impose fees that may not be supported by all property owners.

If the proposed project requires any property owners in the project area to donate any of their property as right of way for the project, those property owners’ signatures must appear on the petition required for submission to the county.

As part of the process for getting the traffic-calming measures in place, once a neighborhood resident or group of residents approach the county about participating in the voluntary program, county staff will prepare an illustration of the proposed infrastructure – county traffic engineering personnel have indicated they expect most, if not all, projects to be only the installation of speed tables – for distribution to affected property owners.

Other information to be distributed to affected property owners in advance of any installation of traffic-calming measures will include a list of affected property owner’s names and addresses, a list of addresses where right of way donation is required, and an estimated cost per property owner of the proposed traffic infrastructure improvement project.

Also as part of that information, county staff will explain to affected property owners that the project must be installed by a qualified private contractor.

Transportation & Public Works Director Stephen Bailey noted that the county plans to develop a list of approved contractors for the Voluntary Residential Traffic Management Program. But until then, he said, his department could assess individual contractors’ ability to do the work associated with any given traffic-calming project.

Bailey went on to tell the Legislative Review Committee in advance of its decision to forward the program proposal to the full commission that if a neighborhood is interested only in installing speed tables, the county has specific standards which it could supply to contractors retained for that work.

However, Bailey added, anything beyond that, such as construction of a traffic circle, would have to be professionally engineered before the neighborhood could proceed with it.

Approval of any traffic calming project under the voluntary program will require a vote of the mayor and commission. And once the project is constructed, it must be accepted by Transportation & Public Works before it can become a piece of public infrastructure which the department will be required to maintain.

As part of the installation process, contractors will be required to get a right of way encroachment permit from the county. Getting that permit requires contractors to post a performance bond to ensure that the project is completed properly, or that the county has resources to address any issues with an improperly installed project.