Neighborhood speeding problems should always be reported to the Multnomah County Sheriff Office first. The police can work with residents to initiate stepped-up enforcement and/or educational measures in the area that may solve the problem.
The City Council has adopted the following process for residents to apply for speed hump installation on existing neighborhood streets.
Speed Hump Evaluation Plan
Purpose: This plan outlines the procedures for evaluating the need to install speed humps in the City of Troutdale.
Applicability: This plan is applicable to all City owned streets in the City of Troutdale.
Effective date: This plan is effective as of August 10, 2016.
Policy: It is the policy of the City of Troutdale that motor vehicles traveling in excess of posted speed limits present a threat to public safety that should be abated using the least intrusive methods available that will be effective for a given situation. Enforcement is the preferred method of abatement. Where the necessary level of enforcement is unattainable considering the limited police resources of the City, engineered measures may be considered.
Procedures:
1. Any citizen who believes that a speeding problem exists on a particular local street should register his/her complaint with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO). If a citizen wishes to ultimately file a petition for speed hump installation, he/she must file a formal speeding complaint with the MCSO. The MCSO will execute enhanced enforcement and MCSO educational measures in the area.
2. Upon receipt of a formal speeding complaint on a local street, in which the complainant indicates an interest in having speed humps installed, an MCSO patrol sergeant will conduct an assessment of available data related to traffic safety. The traffic safety assessment shall include data collection from a documented study (obtained from speed trailer and/or a traffic deputy who has conducted selective enforcement/observation of not less than 10 hours) and through interviews with local citizens. Also, this assessment may include a review of citation data received from the Troutdale Municipal Court.
3. The complainant and an MSCO representative will meet to discuss the results of the Traffic Safety Assessment, enforcement actions, and educational measures that have occurred at the location. The MCSO will then provide the complainant with a letter, signed by the sergeant in charge of traffic safety assessment, summarizing the findings of the assessment and verifying the completion of the follow-up consultation with the complainant.
4. If, after reviewing the monitoring and enforcement data with the MCSO, the complainant chooses to proceed with the speed hump application process, the complainant may initiate a petition for consideration of speed humps. If the complainant does not wish to initiate such a petition, the MCSO will not take any additional action other than routine enforcement and educational measures in the area.
5. A petition form must be obtained, in person, from the Department of Public Works' Speed Hump Committee representative. In order to obtain the petition form, the following documents must be presented:
- Copy of the formal speeding complaint as submitted to the MCSO.
- Letter from the MCSO attesting to the traffic safety assessment follow up consultation. This letter shall be signed by the assigned Patrol Sergeant.
6. The Public Works representative will consult with the complainant regarding the area of concern, geographical boundaries for the petition and a proposed location for future speed monitoring equipment. The Public Works representative will then fill out the boundary information and speed monitoring location on the face of the petition form, based on the information provided by the complainant, and supply that form to the complainant. The Public Works representative will attach to the petition form a map with the affected properties for the petition clearly indicated. Additionally, the petition form will contain fields indicating the name, address and phone number of the resident that will function as the primary contact person for the petition and the complainant’s recommended location for speed monitoring equipment.
7. The petition form and map will plainly and clearly identify the boundary of the affected area. In order to be considered, the petition must contain signatures from at least two-thirds of the households within that boundary. Petitions must be submitted on the prescribed petition form provided by the Public Works Department. Addresses, and names if determinable, of all households in the affected area, including those unable or unwilling to sign, must be printed legibly on the face of the petition. The following criteria must be met for a signature to be considered valid:
- Signature must be of a bona fide member of the household at the time of petition submittal, at least 18 years of age, for the specified address. For unoccupied properties, the property owner or property manager's signature will be considered valid.
- Only households within the designated "affected area" boundary will be counted.
- Only one signature per household or property will be counted.
- Each signature must be dated by the signer. Signatures must be obtained/dated within two years of the September 30th cut-off date for the implementation plan cycle in which the petition is submitted. As an example, for a petition submitted in the cycle with a cutoff date of September 30th, 2001, only signatures dated on or between October 1, 1999 and September 30th, 2001 will be considered valid.
8. Upon completion of signature gathering, the petition shall be submitted to the Public Works Department. The formal speeding complaint and letter from MCSO attesting to the traffic safety assessment follow-up consultation must be attached to the petition at the time of submission. Petitions must be received by the Department of Public Works no later than September 30th to be considered for speed hump installation in the following fiscal year. The Public Works Department will mark the petition with the date received and provide a copy to the complainant.
9. The Public Works Department will immediately review the petition for the validity of signatures and to determine if the necessary 2/3 majority has been achieved by the petition. If the Public Works Department finds that a 2/3 majority has not been met, they will notify the petitioner immediately, in writing, of the deficiency. The petitioner will be allowed to retrieve his/her petition from Public Works, attempt to collect additional signatures and resubmit it, provided that it is submitted with the required number of signatures by September 30th. If the required quantity of signatures is successfully verified, the complainant will be so notified in writing.
10. After September 30th the Public Works Department will arrange for speed monitoring for each petition that has been received and validated. Speed monitoring equipment shall be placed as closely as feasible to the complainant’s recommended location, subject to the technical and safety requirements of the speed monitoring technician. If monitoring indicates that 16% or more of motorists on the subject street are exceeding the posted speed limit by 5 mph or more, the petition will automatically be forwarded to the Speed Hump Committee for further consideration. Existing data indicates that the installation of speed humps are capable of bringing 85% of the traffic stream into compliance; 15% of the traffic stream will still operate at excessive speeds even after speed humps are installed. Therefore, if the monitoring reflects that the number of "excessive speeders" is 15% or less of the traffic stream, then speed humps would not be an effective tool on that street and, as such, the petition will not be given further consideration and the complainant will be so notified, in writing, by the Public Works Department, including an explanation of why speed humps will not be effective for the complainant’s street.
11. Each November, a Speed Hump Committee will convene to evaluate the need for speed humps in all areas for which the Public Works Department has forwarded a petition. The committee will be comprised of five representatives from the Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC), a representative from the Public Works Department, and a representative from the MCSO. The committee will be chaired by the Public Works Department representative. The committee chair will be responsible for all aspects of organizing the meeting, save the selection and coordination of CAC representatives, which will be the privilege of the CAC. The committee chair will distribute written notification of the meeting time and place to each household within the affected area for each petition that will be considered at the meeting, including any “carry over” petitions (see 15 below). A public notice of the meeting will be published in a newspaper of local circulation.
12. At the Speed Hump Committee meeting, the committee members will review the petitions, speed data and associated data as well as take testimony from petitioners and other concerned citizens. The committee will use this information to evaluate each petition on the basis of its individual merits and either support or deny each petition. The committee will rank all supported petitions in order of priority. The evaluation process shall include but not be limited to the following criteria:
A. Prerequisites
The following prerequisites must be met for a speed hump petition to be considered by the committee:
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The complainant must have filed a formal speeding complaint with the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office.
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The complainant must have participated in the follow-up consultation to the Traffic Safety Assessment with MCSO.
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The posted speed limit must be 25 mph or less.
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Speed humps will not be installed in areas where the street grade is 10% or more.
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Speed humps will not be installed in close proximity to areas of obvious potential hazard such as the crest of a hill, intersections, sharp curves, on a major fire/medical response route, or at a point affording inadequate sight distance.
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The subject street section must be long enough to allow placement of at least 2 humps spaced approximately 400 feet apart. In no case will a single speed hump be installed.
B. Volume of traffic
High traffic volumes means a higher total number of speeders on the street. This increases the benefit/cost ratio for speed hump installation. Therefore, higher volumes lend support to speed hump placement for a given percentage of speeders.
C. 85th Percentile Speed
The 85th percentile speed is an indicator of the maximum speed that most responsible drivers feel is a safe travel speed for the given conditions. A high 85th percentile speed indicates that local conditions encourage speeding and that by altering those conditions (i.e. installing speed humps), speeding might be discouraged.
D. Percent of traffic exceeding the speed limit by 10 mph or more.
A relatively high percentage of excessive speeders indicates that speeding is endemic to the street itself and, therefore, is not likely to change over time due to resident turnover. Therefore, higher percentages of speeders lend support to placement of speed humps.
E. Emergency vehicle routing
In some cases, the delays that will be caused to emergency vehicles may outweigh the benefits of reduced speeding. If the street is on a main emergency vehicle access route, consideration must be given to the number of speed humps that will be involved, the ability/inability of emergency vehicles to bypass them and, as a result, the total delay that may be caused.
F. Functional classification of street (local, collector, etc.)
For local access streets, the residents within the petition boundary most likely make up very nearly all of the users of the street. For collector streets and other through streets, a large number of the users may not be represented by the petition. The impact to unrepresented users should be given consideration in these instances.
G. Seasonal Variation
Some streets experience speeding problems only during certain times of year. This decreases the benefit/cost ratio for installation of speed humps and weighs against their use.
H. Proximity to critical site (e.g. school, playground, park, etc.)
There is a concentration of pedestrian traffic around these critical sites. Because of the high concentration of pedestrians, there is an increased risk of person-vehicle collision. Close proximity to such a site lends support to the installation of speed humps. Due to the demographic similarity of Troutdale’s residential neighborhoods, the Speed Hump Committee stipulates an underlying assumption that all neighborhoods have a significant number of children among their populations. Therefore, the presence of children cannot objectively lend more support for a given neighborhood without the presence of a critical site.
The committee chair will distribute written notification of the results of the Speed Hump Committee’s evaluation to each household within the affected area for each petition considered.
13. The Speed Hump Committee chairman will be responsible for providing the evaluation results to the City Manager. All recommendations for speed hump installation made by the Speed Hump Committee will be forwarded to both the City Council and Budget Committee for further consideration.
14. If the street in question is approved and funded for speed hump installation by the Budget Committee and City Council, the installation will be performed during the summer construction season of the fiscal year in which it is funded. The primary contact person for the petition will be notified, in writing, of the approval. Speed humps will be designed, constructed, and installed in accordance with the most current edition of the City of Troutdale Construction Standards For Public Works Facilities published at that time. Specific location and all other variable design and construction issues associated with the speed hump installation will be subject to the discretion and direction of the Public Works Director or such supervising engineer and/or project manager as the Public Works Director may designate. Notifications relative to construction activity will be made in accordance with the Public Works Department’s normal procedures for infrastructure projects.
15. If the street in question is recommended for speed humps by the Speed Hump Committee, but not funded by the Budget Committee and/or City Council, the Public Works Department will so notify, in writing, the households in the affected area and that street will automatically be included in the recommendation for the following year, provided that the petition can still be considered valid with respect to the signature requirements stated in Section 7. The Speed Hump Committee will reprioritize it, based on need, in relation to any new locations, or additional “carry-over” locations, recommended in the following year. The notification to the contact person will indicate the date upon which enough signatures will have “expired” so as to render the petition invalid.
16. Any petitioner whose subject street is not recommended for speed humps by the Speed Hump Committee will be so notified, in writing, by the Speed Hump Committee chairman. The MCSO will then review the situation and work with the petitioner to pursue an appropriate level of enforcement and educational measures in the area.
17. A petitioner that is denied speed humps may petition again the following year and any subsequent year should they so choose. The above process must be repeated in its entirety for each subsequent petition attempt, with the exception that petition signatures may be reused provided that they continue to qualify as valid signatures in accordance with Section 7 above.