The city of Anchorage is preparing to install a series of vehicle speed reduction projects this summer.
Donovan Camp is a bicycle, pedestrian and traffic calming coordinator with the city. He said traffic calming is a catch-all term for street infrastructure aimed at getting cars to slow down.
“We're pretty familiar with, like vertical or speed humps, and there's also things like radar speed signs that give drivers feedback of their speed, which have shown to be very effective,” Camp said.
The Assembly on Tuesday approved a roughly $264,000 contract to install so-called speed cushions in Northeast, Midtown and South Anchorage, as well as the Russian Jack neighborhood. They’re similar to speed bumps, but have gaps that allow emergency vehicles to go through easily.
Traffic safety has been a hot button issue for the city, after a year where 15 pedestrians were fatally struck by vehicles. In response, Assembly leaders have asked the city to look into a series of changes, including more traffic calming projects, reducing speeds in some areas and increased traffic enforcement from the police department.
City traffic department manager Brad Coy said the summer projects aren’t in response to the pedestrian deaths, and are part of an annual traffic calming assessment. He said the city has been collaborating with state transportation officials to provide a more holistic approach to increasing pedestrian safety.
“We've been doing some speed studies and looking at places that we can reduce the speed limits once the conditions accommodate it,” Coy said. “The speed feedback signs that got put out towards the end of last year will go back up. It's just hard to maneuver those in and out of snow.”
Coy said he’s looking forward to the city’s impending Neighborhood Greenways project, which aims to create a network of low volume, low speed streets that would be connected and labeled to make for safer pedestrian and bicycle travel. The city aims to roll out the Neighborhood Greenways this summer.
