To: Board of County Commissioners
Through: Bryan Weimer, PWLF, Director, Public Works & Development
Prepared By:
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James Katzer, Transportation Division Manager, Public Works & Development
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Subject:
title
Adoption of Arapahoe County updated Neighborhood Traffic Management Program
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Purpose and Request:
recommended action
The Transportation Division is requesting BOCC adoption of the updated Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP) within unincorporated Arapahoe County and its incorporation in the Transportation Operation Policy and Procedures manual.
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Alignment with Strategic Plan: Safe and Healthy Communities - Advance public safety by strengthening partnerships across law enforcement, emergency response, and community stakeholders.
Background and Discussion: The Transportation Division receives many citizen requests for the installation of various traffic control-related devices. Typically, neighborhood traffic problems include:
• Speeding
• Intrusion (increased volume or excessive non-local traffic on a neighborhood street)
• Accidents and safety
The goal of the NTMP will be to address citizen concerns related to traffic management on local residential streets using a range of strategies including education, enforcement and engineering.
Engineering strategies use traffic calming tools that include:
• Chicanes
• Curb Extensions/Bulb-outs
• Radar speed limit signs
• Lane narrowing/Pinch point
• Pedestrian crossing signals
• Pedestrian refuge islands
• Raised crosswalk
• Flashing school zone beacons
• Rumble Strips
• Speed Humps
• Speed Cushions
• Traffic Circles
• Targeted enforcement
The NTMP outlines locations that are eligible for the program:
• The identified location must be located on:
o A local roadway OR minor collector - as shown on the program’s website AND
o A roadway that is County maintained pavement - as shown on the program’s website
• Safety Analysis: the roadway segment has documented traffic safety issues that are considered correctable by traffic calming treatments or:
• Residential street section with 500 or more vehicles per day and the measured 85th-percentile speed exceeds the posted speed limit by 6 mph or more.
The NTMP Application Process Overview
• Once the County becomes aware of a perceived issue that meets the eligibility requirements, study limits will be defined
• Staff, if appropriate, will conduct a support poll to determine the community support for traffic calming measures.
• Staff collect data to determine if/what traffic calming measures are appropriate
• Staff ranks projects
• Staff work with the neighborhood on a traffic calming solution
The NTMP benefits will help define a consistent process and criteria for designing and implementing traffic-calming measures, foster a collaborative relationship between residents and staff in implementing traffic calming measures, provide a neighborhood driven process to address concerns about traffic volumes and speeds on residential streets, and improve quality of life for Arapahoe County citizens by improving neighborhood livability through traffic calming measures.
Arapahoe County Public Works and Development Staff (Staff) created the NTMP in 1998 in response to concerns about vehicle speeds, safety, and cut-through traffic on residential roadways. In 2023, a more robust guidance document was sought to maintain a consistent and engineering-based approach to identifying what enhancements, when and where, if any, are needed and appropriate. In the past, the placement of calming and safety strategies has been an ongoing challenge due to the number and variety of locations of requests, small number of viable treatments, and the effectiveness of the adopted enhancements. This program not only addresses traffic calming issues on roadways which are determined by Staff to meet the functional characteristics of local roadways within unincorporated Arapahoe County but will now include minor collectors. It was found that most of the effective strategies were implemented up to the level of minor collectors of which the County manages and would benefit from a well-defined approach. This NTMP is not intended to downgrade roadways in classification or function where that roadway is otherwise necessary and appropriate for the roadway network.
On February 10, 2025, Staff presented the updated NTMP to the BOCC and received support to move forward with the adoption of the NTMP as a consent agenda item. After the study session, PWD presented the proposed NTMP to the public on the County’s website for 30 days during April and May 2025. Notifications were made through the County’s established notification channels on April 28, 2025. These included Social Posts on Facebook, NextDoor and X. The County received one comment praising the County for streamlining the process and highlighting an area that would benefit from the NTMP. The County ran a story in the CountyLine Newsletter article on May 2, 2025.
The County also consulted with other neighborhood traffic calming plans from Adams County, Broomfield, Colorado Springs, Denver, Centennial, and Albuquerque, NM. These plans provided great insight on viable successful approaches to calming traffic in neighborhoods. The NTMP Program has been fully updated and is ready for adoption.
Alternatives: The alternative to the NTMP is to continue addressing citizen complaints on a case-by-case basis without a strategy or funding program to address traffic concerns. Without the adoption of this new version PWD will continue to follow the 1998 NTMP.
Fiscal Impact: This program will be funded through the Capital Expenditure Fund with budget levels being approved by the BOCC during the annual budget approval process. Funds will be set aside on a yearly basis to design and construct NTMP projects. The Transportation Division may also request funds from HOAs to implement certain projects. Projects are anticipated to be between $5,000 and $300,000 for design and construction.
Alignment with Strategic Implementation Strategies: The attached framework helps Arapahoe County institutionalize values-based, transparent decision-making, documenting how we make decisions and carry out actions to achieve the county’s strategic plan. The NTMP aligns specifically with Good Governance by responding to community needs and concerns, as well as providing Safer and Healthy Communities and Sustainable Growth and Infrastructures by maximizing the use of County facilities and assets.
Concurrence: The Arapahoe County Road & Bridge division was party to the update and concurs with the program.