CHARLOTTE, N.C. (June 13, 2022) — New changes to a City of Charlotte transportation policy aim to make sure residents in rental properties have the same opportunities to improve neighborhood traffic safety as property owners.

Charlotte City Council members on Monday approved an update to a program known as neighborhood traffic calming, to no longer require a petition signed by homeowners and property owners before a speed hump or multiway stop can be added to eligible residential streets. Prior to the change, the city required a resident to submit a petition indicating support from 60% of property owners within 1,200 feet of the speed hump or stop.

Through this change, the city intends to make it more equitable for neighborhoods throughout Charlotte to get the tools they need to calm traffic.

"Previously, a person requesting traffic calming measures may have had to go door-to-door in order to return a successful petition," said Angela Berry, who manages the city's Vision Zero program to eliminate traffic-related deaths and serious injuries. "This placed the burden of traffic calming on the public, and it could be difficult in neighborhoods that are not formally organized, or have a high number of renters."

Even as it removes the petition process, the city remains committed to informing the community of coming changes to neighborhood streets.

Now under an opposition-based process, once a traffic calming measure is requested by a resident, and  evaluated and approved by the city, the Charlotte Department of Transportation will send postcards to the street's neighbors informing them of the coming traffic-calming measure: a speed hump, a multiway stop, or both. Neighbors will have 45 days to let the city know of any opposition. If there is opposition, the city will work with the neighborhood to seek a solution.

The changes go into effect immediately.

Mapping the Need for Equity

The city's traffic-calming program was established in 1997. A map showing completed traffic-calming projects indicates how popular the program is among Charlotte neighborhoods, but also the need for greater equity.

To date, the city has installed 675 multiway stops, 1,935 speed humps and 36 roundabouts across Charlotte. Another 160 requests are in progress; these include new requests that must be evaluated by the city, requests that have been evaluated but are awaiting a complete petition, or requests that await the final step of funding. 

A map of Charlotte's traffic calming tools overlayed with the "arc" or "crescent," and the "wedge." The crescent contains areas of concentrated poverty and many residents of color and extends around Uptown from the east to the southwest. The wedge, south of Uptown, contains the highest incomes and percentage of white residents.

Overlay the traffic-calming map with Charlotte's "crescent" or "arc," and its "wedge," and a clear picture emerges: The previous petition-based process was designed for property owners, and therefore brought more traffic calming to the affluent wedge of south Charlotte.

Transportation department staff recommended the city remove the petition requirement after hearing from residents and neighborhood organizers concerned about the process.

"We know that renters make up nearly half of residents citywide, and in some neighborhoods, that number is much greater," Berry said. "We also learned from our residents — they just did not have time to collect signatures when they worked full time, or their neighbors worked full time or multiple jobs and shifts."

Additionally, a study of eight cities across the country — Austin, Texas; Baltimore; Richmond, Virginia; Seattle; Raleigh; El Paso, Texas; San Francisco and Atlanta — showed that five of the eight do not require a resident-led petition process. Charlotte's policy update better aligns the city with best practices nationwide.

Qualifying Streets for Traffic Calming

Speed Limit Reduction

By state statute, streets within Charlotte's city limits, including neighborhood streets, have a speed limit of 35 miles per hour unless otherwise posted. The speed limit of a local street — a street primarily used to access abutting property — can be lowered to 25 miles per hour. This is the first step the city will take when approached by a resident for traffic calming.

If a street is already posted at 25 miles per hour, the city may study the street for additional traffic-calming measures, including speed humps and multiway stops.

Speed Humps

Speed humps are raised sections of the road constructed to reduce speed. Speed humps can be comfortably crossed at 20‐25 miles per hour. Speed humps may be available if:

• The street is two lanes and no more than 40 feet wide.

• The street has at least 600 vehicles traveling on it per day.

• Drivers typically exceed the speed limit by at least 5 miles per hour.

• Charlotte Fire Department analyses find no negative impact to emergency response times resulting from another traffic-calming measure.

Multiway Stops

Multiway stops reduce speeding. An area may qualify for a multiway stop if:

• Intersecting streets are posted at 25 miles per hour.

• Intersections do not include a thoroughfare street.

• Intersections are three-way or four-way.

• At least 600 vehicles per day travel through the intersection.

• Drivers typically exceed the speed limit by at least 5 miles per hour.

• Charlotte Fire Department analyses find no negative impact to emergency response times resulting from another traffic-calming measure.

Speed Humps and Multiway Stops Combined

If a speed hump or multiway stop has been installed on a street, but a resident or neighborhood desires another means of reducing vehicle speeds, the street may qualify for another measure. Streets may qualify for both speed humps and multiway stops if:

• The first traffic calming measure was installed more than a year prior.

• Traffic volume on the street is at least 1,500 vehicles per day.

• Charlotte Fire Department analyses find no negative impact to emergency response times. resulting from another traffic-calming measure.

How to Request Traffic Calming

Call 311 or request a traffic-calming measure online. Every neighborhood presents a unique set of circumstances. An engineering assistant will be assigned to each request.

If a request meets the criteria for traffic calming, an evaluation can take between 30 days to four months, depending upon which traffic calming device is selected for the street.

Because of funding limitations, CDOT has historically prioritized requests based on speed levels and the amount of pedestrian and vehicular activity in an area. If approved by voters in November, the 2022 bond to support Vision Zero safety improvements, totaling $17.1 million, will give CDOT more funds to allocate to traffic calming requests.

Continuing Commitment to Traffic Safety

Although removing a petition requirement for speed humps and multiway stops is a significant step, it's not the first time the City of Charlotte has revised its traffic-calming policy to making traffic calming available to more residents.

In 2006, the city began allowing speed humps and multiway stops to be used in combination. Beginning in 2018, the city no longer required a petition of property owners to lower the speeds of local streets to 25 miles per hour, which is the first step in traffic calming. For neighborhood petitioners seeking speed humps or multiway stops, the city also began accepting the signature of only one property owner per parcel, simplifying the process if more than one person owned a piece of property. That year, the city also lowered the traffic volume required to install a speed hump or multiway stops, from 1,000 cars per day to 600 per day.

Learn more about the city's commitment to traffic safety through Vision Zero and neighborhood traffic calming efforts at charlottenc.gov.