The effectiveness of low-cost traffic calming applications appropriate for main streets through rural communities

摘要

County and state highways that enter small rural towns commonly become a major roadway through the community. These roadways typically have high speed limits outside of town and transition to a reduced speed limit through the community. Drivers that enter at high speeds and continue speeding throughout create unsafe conditions for residents and other drivers. When speeding becomes a problem, city officials often struggle to find solutions. Most traffic calming studies only focus on minor streets in large, urban areas. Therefore, city officials have little information about the effectiveness of rural traffic calming measures that are appropriate for major highways. They may also have few resources to reduce speeds. The purpose of this study was to identify economically feasible traffic calming strategies that are appropriate for major roadways, test these strategies in several communities, and analyze their effectiveness by comparing speed data before and one month after implementation.