Neighborhood Programs

Street Eligibility

The program is primarily designed to receive and evaluate community requests for implementing traffic calming treatments and strategies on residential streets only. Because residential streets are intended for local access, the traffic calming strategies employed on residential streets will be different from those employed on arterial streets, which serve a larger amount of traffic and more significant purposes, such as being the primary routes for emergency responders. 

Scoring Process

Each residential street accumulates a score, which provides an indicator of how beneficial traffic calming features might be for the given roadway segment. The factors used in the scoring process are grouped into four categories. All factors are carefully selected to make the scoring process as efficient and fair as possible. 

Scoring Categories

1. Equity within the City (max 30 points) 
2. Collision History (max 30 points) 
3. Community Features (max 30 points): Proximity to parks, schools, libraries, transit stops, and bikeways each contributes up to 6 points, except for schools, which contribute up to 10 points.  
4. Infrastructure Conditions (max 10 points): Sidewalks 5 points, Paved Street Width 5 points 

Track One

This track responds to applicable requests filed through the City’s participation in the 311/See Click Fix system, email, and phone. Traffic calming measures will be considered and may be designed for location requests with a relatively high score in the prioritization system. 

Track Two

This track develops opportunities related to:  1) streets ranking high but without supporting requests, 2) partnering with the City’s other programs on relatively high-ranking streets from the program to leverage shared costs to achieve implementations, or 3) proactive considerations of lower scoring locations due to the absence of crashes. 

Community Outreach

The City will conduct neighborhood outreach to share a proposed design or options and receive/acknowledge feedback. The traffic calming measures need 60% of the neighbors’ consent and a minimum of 25% of all surveys returned before being considered for upcoming implementation opportunities for projects identified directly through the Traffic Calming Program. 

Post Construction Evaluation

One evaluation will be conducted at least six months after construction to assess the performance of the new traffic calming features. 

Frequently Asked Questions

Who has the right-of-way at an intersection?

Pedestrians (including people bicycling or rolling on the sidewalk) have the right-of-way within crosswalks at unsignalized intersections unless otherwise posted, and drivers are required by law to stop for them – whether or not there is a marked crosswalk or curb ramps.  

Under State law, when two vehicles approach an intersection with no stop signs for any of the approaches simultaneously, the driver on the left shall always yield to the driver on the right. This is also true for intersections with a traffic circle or all-way stops (when arriving simultaneously). 

Wouldn't additional speed limit signs help to slow traffic?

In Tacoma, the speed limit on residential streets is 20 mph. For a map of City speed limits, visit www.cityoftacoma.org/visionzero. Given limited resources, the City does not generally install speed limit signs on non-arterial streets. Speed limit signs are installed on arterial streets where the speed limit changes periodically along the street. 

What can our neighborhood do about people who speed on our street?

Speeding is a concern for many of our residential neighborhoods, and addressing this requires active participation by residents working in strong partnership with the City. Neighbors can change driver behavior and be good role models by: 

Park legally, specifically on-street.

Don’t park on gravel or paved planting strips; encourage your neighbors to do the same. This helps reduce the effective width of the roadway, which lowers speeds. Be sure you’re following parking rules, like parking at least 20 feet away from a marked or unmarked crosswalk – to make it easier for people driving to see and stop for pedestrians. 

Follow the speed limit.

Encourage others to do the same. 

Use active transportation.

Working to increase the number of people who walk, roll, and bike in your neighborhood – by using active transportation and encouraging neighbors to join you! When more people use these modes, the number of cars using the street will be reduced. Plus, drivers learn to expect people walking and rolling and slow down (this is known as the “safety in numbers” effect). 

Plant trees.

Check out the City’s Grit City Trees Program! 

Permanent traffic calming should be done in a phased approach, starting with ensuring that Tacoma and the community have a clear and shared understanding of the concern. The City seeks ways to educate drivers using the street, whether in your neighborhood or elsewhere. As we move through the process, we might identify relatively simple measures (such as reconfiguring parking on your street or adding bike lanes) or develop traffic calming projects that are both feasible and fundable. To begin the process for evaluating traffic calming infrastructure like speed humps or traffic circles, submit a 311/See Click Fix request with a description of current conditions.   

A traffic circle near us needs the landscaping maintained, who do we call?

The City does not maintain Traffic circle landscaping; it is done by community volunteers, who do their best to keep the landscaping in good condition. However, if you feel a traffic circle is becoming overgrown or are interested in volunteering to help maintain an existing traffic circle, submit a 311/See Click Fix request. 

What about installing Children at Play (and similar message) signs in the right of way?

The City of Tacoma does not install these signs. First and foremost, most of these signs are not supported as standard traffic signs (even if used in other cities or ones that may have been installed in Tacoma many years ago). Additionally, we want drivers to know that children could be present on or near any street. We also don’t want either children or their parents to feel that such signs make the street conditions safer for their children. It is important to note that in jurisdictions where such signs have been installed, past studies  showed that these signs do not reduce collisions or vehicle speeds.