City officials are hoping a new traffic calming program developed by the city’s traffic safety committee will help make community streets and neighborhoods safer. On Aug. 27, Jacob Moser, a city engineer, presented the new program to the South Salt Lake City Council.

The program addresses several concerns, including speeding, cut-through traffic, cyclist and pedestrian safety and parking issues. It also creates a process for handling neighborhood complaints and prioritizes where the city should spend money on improvements.

The program will use a set of criteria to determine the priority of each area. This includes taking into account the average speed and volume of cars on a road, the presence of sidewalks, crash history and how close a problem area is to youth facilities like schools or community centers.

"This was an attempt...to have a process that when we get complaints on parking or speeding in neighborhoods and where do we focus on spending dollars to make improvements and what is the necessary improvement?" Moser said. "The engineering department's been working on this and finally got it in a form where it can be put on the website so if somebody complains...we can have them go here and fill out this form...to start adding these improvements or protections in their neighborhood."

As part of his presentation, Moser highlighted several potential solutions and already-completed projects. He said the city has used speed pillows or cushions [a series of raised areas with cutouts designed to slow down traffic] which will be permanent concrete installations, to slow traffic. Other options include traffic circles, additional bulb outs [curb extensions that protrude into the roadway to shorten pedestrian crossings and slow turning vehicles], parking restrictions at intersections, new bike lanes and sidewalk improvements.

City crews have already installed traffic safety measures in two problem areas:

At Olene Walker Elementary 3751 S. 900 West, bulb outs and crosswalks with speed signs were added to improve what Moser called “a long midblock crossing.” The school is also working to add more crossing guards. Also, following a fatal accident last year at Truman and Main Street, the city added red curbs and "no parking" signs to improve visibility at the intersection.

The city was recently notified that it has qualified for a federal "Safe Streets for All" grant to help implement some of the proposed solutions but has not yet received the funding, Moser said. Once that money becomes available the city has plans for several areas including Greg Avenue where a project is planned to add a new sidewalk with ADA ramps to an area where the sidewalk currently ends.

At Woodrow Wilson Elementary, 2500 S. State St., the city is working with UDOT to install a pedestrian hybrid beacon—a "hawk signal"—to make it safer for school children to cross State Street.

After numerous complaints about speeding, the city performed a speed study on 3745 South and will add speed pillows to the streets.

The city council responded positively to Moser’s presentation. 

"It is so helpful to have this criteria that we can actually have a conversation because everyone thinks their streets are the worst, right?" Council Chair Sharla Bynum said.