Menifee Traffic Circle Pilot Project

Speeding has been one most frequently heard complaints within our neighborhood.  

• One of the most frequent complaints at general meetings and highly ranked on our paper surveys at the meetings as a topic of "concern".
• 39 list serve posts on speeding since April 2011 alone.
• Over the last several years, we have seen posts regarding one case of a person being hit (resulting in broken bones) one case of a dog being hit and two cases of parked cars being hit
• The last traffic study was requested in 2008 by the Kenwick Neighborhood Association. We were able to get one stop sign at Richmond and Cramer and one at Menifee and Owsley. •    One of the more frequently cited areas of problems is on Menifee, especially because of the park.

What options do we have to reduce speeding in our neighborhood?   

•  Stops signs
• Traffic circles
• Speed bumps, humps and tables
• Police patrols

Why not pursue stop signs right now?

• They require a traffic study and they require certain criteria of number of cars and speed of cars to be met before they can be installed.
• The sign itself costs about $105, but the study costs much more.
• Right now, there are no available city funds for traffic studies or for stop signs.
• We can discuss this option in the future, it is just not available this year.
• Stop signs cause more noise at the intersections than traffic circles.
• People can still run stop signs, but they have to go around a circle.

Why not pursue speed bumps, humps or tables right now?

• Street cleaning and snow/ice removal is not available to the streets that have them
• Speed bumps and humps (not tables) can impede emergency vehicles (fire trucks. etc).
• They can be noisy for the residents living right next to them.
• They require sign off by a majority of the surrounding neighbors since these are not installed by the city.
• They are costly (one speed bump is about $1,500 and a speed table is about $3,000 to $5,000).
• We would probably need them in many locations, which may make this expensive.

Why not use Police Patrols to control speeders? 

• The police can do periodic patrols, but they are not available 24/7.
• It can be difficult to ever catch repeat offenders.
• These patrols cost more to the city government than more permanent measures such as stop signs.
• Traffic tends to slow down for a short while and then it returns to the previous pace.

What is a traffic circle designed to do?

• Break up speeding on otherwise clear roads.
• Does not stop traffic, only slows it down.
• They are shown in other cities to work well and be safe.
• You will still be able to make left turns, just go around the circle.
• The circles will be designed to accommodate all traffic including delivery trucks, emergency vehicles.

Please note these things regarding the proposed traffic circles on Menifee:

• There is speeding on most streets in Kenwick, but we are being offered assistance with Menifee in the form of a traffic circle.
• This will affect the intersections of Menifee and Lincoln, Preston, Bassett and Sherman.
• This is part of a study on traffic circles that will be monitored for a full year.
• This is a temporary/non permanent setup. If we do not like it OR if it fails to reduce the speed of traffic they will be removed.
• This has not been set into action and can be canceled at this point if people do not want it.
• Bill Farmer’s office and Jessica Gies have offered this possibility to us, but we are not being pushed to take it. They offered it as a solution to what they saw as a very common complaint and were just trying to help.
• This is a limited time offer. If we do not want it the pilot will be passed to another neighborhood, but right now we are first in line.
• The only cost to the Neighborhood Association for dirt and plants for planters that will be in the center of the circle.
• This pilot has funds allocated for it already, so it is not effected by the limitations of the traffic engineering budget.
• Due to city budgets this year, we are not able get traffic studies for stop signs. Things will likely change in future years, but this year stop signs are not possible.

How will the study be conducted? 

• Nearby residents will be notified.
•  Marks will be made to layout the traffic circles, they will check that there is enough room for delivery trucks, emergency vehicles, buses etc to turn. They will be making temporary marks to physically test the scenario before making the actual marks. They will test with a bus.
• There will be not property loss, they will use the existing asphalt.
• There will not be much (if any) parking loss, since people should not be parking that close to an intersection by ordinance.
• A study will be done before, quarterly over a period of a year, and the end of a year.
• Speed of vehicles, numbers of vehicles will be studied before during and after.
• The city wants your input, before and after the study.
• The circle would be placed on/around October 1st.