CALM THE TRAFFIC; EXIT THE PEOPLE: A PROCESS FOR COMMUNITY-BASED TRANSPORTATION PLANNING

This paper was presented at the 'Effective Public Consultation in Transportation Planning' session. Many communities in Canada and the U.S. are feeling the effect of too many cars travelling at too high speeds. Such traffic has a profound negative effect on street life. To reduce this effect municipalities are turning to traffic calming. Traffic calming is a combination of policies and physical measures that reduce the negative effects of motorized vehicle use in a community. The key to successful traffic calming lies in changing the design and role of the street in such a fashion that drivers will want to slow down. Depending on the problem on the street, a wide range of traffic calming measures can be applied. The selection of these measures is best done by public consensus. Traffic calming is community-based planning and public participation is essential to its success. This paper looks at ways to solicit and encourage public participation when looking at traffic calming implementation. For the covering abstract of this conference see IRRD number 872812. (A)