SUPERVISOR GROMACK & SUPERINTENDENT BALLARD

LEAD TRAFFIC CALMING EFFORT IN CLARKSTOWN NEIGBORHOODS

 

(New City, NY) Clarkstown Supervisor Alexander J. Gromack is leading efforts to reduce speeding, excessive traffic, and vehicular accidents in key areas throughout the Town by rolling out a new traffic calming program with Clarkstown Highway Department Superintendent Wayne Ballard.

 

“The traffic calming program uses new guidelines and criteria to evaluate and implement various traffic calming measures to lessen the effects of overburdened traffic corridors throughout Clarkstown,” Gromack said.

 

The program requires residents to fill out an Application for Evaluation Form which includes a petition of a minimum of ten households or 25% of the households on a specific street that is requesting a traffic calming measure.  The application will then be evaluated by the Town.  If minimum criteria are met, the Town will then begin collecting data to evaluate the project’s eligibility.  Residents will have ample opportunity to work with the Town to gather data and represent the interests within the neighborhoods by electing to create a community working group to work with Town Staff to review the existing problem, determine community goals and evaluate various traffic calming measures.

 

 “This program will allow us to work more efficiently for neighbors in Clarkstown,” said Wayne Ballard, Highway Department Superintendent.  “The program gives residents a clear procedure for requesting traffic calming solutions in their neighborhoods, but also provides them with an understanding of what is and is not possible.”

 

“The key to this program is not just adding traffic calming devices throughout the Town, but really evaluating the situation in order to determine what, if any, calming device may help,” said Gromack.

 

To alleviate resident concerns of too much traffic or speeding cars through neighborhoods, the Town is categorizing streets by amount of use and then placing criteria for traffic calming measures for each category.  To be eligible for any device, the traffic volume must be within 500 and 8000 vehicles per day and the road must have a minimum segment length of 600ft.  Residents on such street may have a menu of traffic calming alternatives, but subject to existing conditions such as the grade of the street, curvature of the street, and service consideration, like being part of a school bus route. 

 

Both Gromack and Ballard are confident of the program’s success because it focuses on engineering evaluation of the problem, education of residents about traffic calming, and enforcement.  Visual and physical traffic calming measures and assessments of the impact of the measures are also key components of the program.

 

 

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