1994-214E:\~PDOCS\ORD\ROADHUHP
ORDINANCE NO. ~q -- ~%q
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS, PROVIDING FOR THE
ADOPTION OF A POLICY FOR THE INSTALLATION OF DEVICES TO SAFELY
REDUCE VEHICLE SPEEDS ON CERTAIN TYPES OF STREETS; PROVIDING FOR A
SEVERABILITY CLAUSE; AND PROVIDING FOR AN EFFECTIVE DATE.
WHEREAS, the city Council of the city of Denton, Texas, is of
the opinion that the installation of certain devices on streets
will promote a safe reduction of vehicle speeds; and
WHEREAS, the city Council of the city of Denton, Texas, desires
to adopt a policy for the installation of these devices in conjunc-
tion with citizen participation; NOW, THEREFORE,
THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS HEREBY ORDAINS:
SECTION I. That the City of Denton hereby adopts a policy for
the installation of road humps on certain residential streets, a
copy of said policy is attached hereto as Exhibit A and incor-
porated by reference herein.
SECTION II. That pursuant to the authority provided in DENTON
TEX. REV. ORDINANCES, sec. 18-3 (1991), the City Engineer is
directed to implement this policy and is authorized to install road
hump devices on certain city streets pursuant to the provisions
contained in said policy.
SECTION III. That the provisions of this ordinance are
separable, and the invalidity of any phrase or part of this
ordinance shall not affect the validity or effectiveness of the
remainder of the ordinance.
SECTION IV. That this ordinance shall be effective immediately
upon its passage.
PASSED AND APPROVED this the I~day of~O~f.~-~-~, 1993.
ATTEST:
JENNIFER WALTERS, CITY SECRETARY
APPROVED AS TO LEGAL FORM:
DEBRA A. DRAYOVITC~{, CITY ATTORNEY
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ROAD HUMP INSTALLATION POLICY
A. GENERAL
Road hum~s are an effective and appropriate device for safely reducing
vehicle speeds on certain types of streets when installed in accordance with
the provisions of this'policy.
In order for road hump installations to be effective, they should be located
selectively in accordance with defined transportation engineering criteria
for the purpose of ameliorating documented speeding problems. Proper
installation will also minimize driver frustration and encourage safe
driving practices.
This policy promotes reasonable opportunities for residents and property
owners most affected by a proposed road hump to participate together in the
process that leads to its installation. It also provides for a sharing of
the road hump installation cost between the City and the neighborhood under
certain conditions.
8. DEFINITIONS
For the context of this policy only~
A~PLICA~ION for road humps include the petition;
LOW DENSI~RESIDEN~IALDWELLINGS include single-family houses, townhouses,
duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes;
ROAD H/~MP is a geometric design feature of a roadway, consisting of a raised
area in the roadway pavement surface extending transversely across the
travel way, whose primary purpose is to reduce the speed of vehicles
traveling along that roadway;
SPEEDS are 85th percentile speeds;
ST~EE~ refers to the street length that must be petitioned. It is a 1,000
foot segment generally centered on the location of the humpm, or the length
of the block, whichever is greater. If the 1,000 foot segment extends into
any part of an adjacent block, it includes the entire length of the adjacent
block, unless separated by an intervening thoroughfare, traffic signal or
offset intersection.
C. ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
Ail of the following criteria must be satisfied for a street to be
considered eligible for road hump installation.
1. ~ k%kPa
A petition that documents that a minimum of two-thirds of the
households in low density residential dwellings on the street support
its installation.
2. Location Of The Street
The uses on the street where the road hump is proposed must be
composed primarily of low density residential dwellings.
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3. Operational Characteristics of The Street
a. The street must be used to provide access to abutting low density ,
residential p~operties (local residential street) and/or to
collect traffic for such streets (residential collector).
b.-- There must be no more than one moving lane of traffic in each
direction.
c. Traffic volumes must be more than 500 vehicles per day but less
than 8,000 vehicles per day.
d. Vehicle speeds must equal or exceed the speed of 35 miles per hour
(mph).
e. The street must not be an identified primary route for emergency
vehicles; this refers to a route that is heavily used due to the
proximity of the emergency vehicle facility. These routes are
subject to change.
f. The street must have a speed limit of 30 mph as determined in
accordance with State Law.
4. Geome%ric Characteristics Of The Street
a. The street must have adequate eight distances to safely
accommodate the hump ae determined by the Department of
Engineering and Transportation.
b. The street must not have curves or grades that prevent safe
placement of the humps. Humps may be located on streets that
contain curves and/or grades, but the hump itself must not be
located within a horizontal curve, on a vertical grade greater
than 8% or on their immediate approaches.
c. The street must be paved. If there are no curbs, a special design
must be used to prevent vehicle run-arounde.
d. The elevation of property adjacent to a hump location must be
above top of curb, as determined by the Department of Engineering
and Transportation, to minimize potential flooding due to the
presence of the hump in the roadway.
D. COST RESPONSIBILITY
The cost for the road hump installation (including signs, pavement markings
and, if neoess&ry, special design features such as curbing or guard rail)
may be shared between the City and residents according to how much the
meaSur~ speed on the street exceedm the Speed Criteria aa defined in
Section C.3.d. This cost sharing i~ defined aa
COST SHARING TABLE
88th PERCENTILE SPEED I RESIDENT'S COST SHABE
35 mph 100%
36 mph 80%
37 mph 60%
38 mph 40%
39 mph 20%
>39 mph 0%
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For a street located in a Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) area, the
cost responsibility of the residents is 0%, regardless of the measured
speed. The cost for transportation engineering studies and maintenance of
the road hump is the responsibility of the City. The term resident, when
used in cost sharing, does not necessarily refer to the petitioners. It is
used to define the share of the cost that is not the responsibility of the
City and could be paid by one or more of the residents or from other private
sources. Notwithstanding the provisions of the foregoing cost sharing
table, residents may be able to expedite hump installation by voluntarily
paying t~e full installation cost.
E. ROAD HUMP REMOVAL AND ALTERATION
The process for road hump removal or alteration by residents is the same as
the process for installation, except that there is no City participation in
cost sharing.
ROAD HUMP LOCATION
A road hump must not be located in front of a property if the occupant
objects to its placement or, in the case of a property containing low
density multiple dwellings, if a majority of the households on the property
object to its placement. Fulfillment of this requirement is the
responsibility of the applicant(s).
G. DESIGN STANDARDS AND PROCEDURES
The City Engineer shall prepare and maintain current design standards and
installation procedures for road humps in accordance with this policy.
H. REASSESSMENT
The City staff will reassess this Policy on an annual basis for three years.
The first reassessment is due one year after the installation of the first
road hump under provisions of this Policy. The Traffic Safety Commission
and City Council will review and reassess road humps annually.
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Page
PROCeDUREs FOR ROAD HUMP INSTALLATION
1. The initial request for the installation cf road humps must originate from
the residents living on the street. A request in writing from a resident o7
representative must be forwarded to:
Road Hump Program
_ Department Of Engineering and Transportation
City Hall, 215 E. McKinney
Denton, Texas 76201.
2. A preliminary determination of eligibility based on available traffic data
will be made in a timely manner.
A. If the street Is determined not to be eligible the applicant(s) w£11 be
notified in writing giving the reason.
B. The decision may be appealed in writing to the Director of Engineering
and Transportation within 15 days of the notification date. The Director
will review the determination and respond to the applicant(B) within 30
days of the appeal request.
C. If the street le determined to be eligible for consideration, a meeting
will be arranged between the applicant(s) and staff to define the
petition area, the approximate road hump location range and whether the
location(s) would be in a Community Developeent Block Orant (CDBG) area.
The applicant(s) will be instructed to submit a ~etition indicating that
a minimum of two-thirds cf the low density dwelling households on the
street support the installation of road humps as provided in the Road
Hump Policy.. Only petition forms supplied by the Department of
Engineering and Transportation or exact duplicates may be used for this
purpose.
3. After verification of the petitions, the Department will conduct =he
necessary transportation engineering studies and solicit comments and
recommendations of other agencies. A determination of the street's
eligibility for road hump installation will be made in · timely manner,
based on the Road Hump Policy.
A. If the street is determined not to be eligible for road hump
installation, the applicant{s) will be notified in writing giving the
reason.
B. The decision may be appealed in the same manner ae in Section 2.
C. If the street ie determined to be eligible, the street will be placed on
a list of streets elia£ble for road humu installation.
4. The DeploYment of Engineering and Transportation will make a determination
of the total installation cost and the cost sharing responsibility of the
residents, IL', 9plicable, according to the Road Hump Policy.
5. Once elig~bl~or road hump installation, owners Of real property lying
within the notification area will be notified of the action by the
Department of Engineering and Transportation. The notification area
consists of the area within 200 fee= of the boundary of the street. The
measurement of the 200 feet includes streets and alleys. The notice will
include · return form to indicate support or objection to the proposed
installation.
6. If owners of 20 percent or more of the real property within the notification
area object to the installation within 30 days of the notice, then the
street will be removed from the list of streets el£a£ble for road ~um~
s~9~_~=~L~& and a public hearing will be scheduled at the City Council.
Notification of the hearing will include the applicant(M) and owners of real
property within the notification area. In addition, a reasonable effort
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will be made to notify each low density residential household along the
street and area neighborhood associations of the public hearing.
7. If owners of less than 20 percent of the real property within the
notification area object to the installation or the City Council approves
the installation after a public hearing, then the Departnnent of Engineering
and Transportation will ~lace the street on a list of streets approved for
road hump installation~
8. Depending on the method used to pay for the cost of the road hump
installation, either Section 8A or section 8B will apply. Section 8A will
apply if there is no City participation in the cost {i.e. the cost will be
fully paid with voluntary private funding). Section 8B will apply if the
residents request any city participation in paying for the cost of =he road
hump installation, if that option is available under Section D of the Road
Hump Policy.
A. Once a street is placed on the %%st of streets aPPrOved for road hump
installation, the City will submit a statement to the representative of
the residents for the cost of the road hump installation. Upon receipt
of payment of the cost, the humps will he installed aa scheduling
permits. If full payment has not been received within one year from the
statement date, the street will be removed from the list of streets
approved for road humn installation and all monies received, if any,
returned to the payor.
-OR
B. (1) The City Engineer will submit a repor~ on an annual basis containing
a list of streets anDroved for road hump installation that require city
funding, either in whole or par~, in a request for funding to the City
Council. The report will rank the ~equests in an order of priority
determined by the following calculations
' II RANKING ITEM I VALUE
i % vehicles exceeding Speed Criteria X daily
traffic volume -
2 number of schools, parks, churches or
institutions On street (maximum of 2) X 50 -
3 % of petitioning households on street
requesting humps X 15 -
4 number of reported accidents in previous
12 month period X 100 -
RARKING SUM (1+2+3+4) -
(2) The street yieldi~ the highest numerical value from the above summation
will be considered to have the highest priority. The street with the
earliest application date will have the highest priority among streets with
the same s-mmation value. The repor~ will contain the above ranked list of
streets 9oDroved for road hume installation, together with the speed,
vehicles per day, ranking sum, whether the location is in CDBG area,
estimated installation costs, city's cost share, residents' cost share,
application date, payment due date and cumulative city cos= share. The
report will additionally list all road hump requests subsequently denied by
the Director of Engineering and Transportation under provisions of section
2Band 3B, in addition to pending requelts. A street that does not receive
road hump installation funding approval will automatically be considered in
the following years, for a maximum of 3.additional years. After that time
period, a new request and petition are required.
(3) When a budget amount for road hump installations ham been approved by
the City Council, the Department of Engineering and Transportation will,
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s~ar~ing a~ ~he ~op of the ranking list and proceeding in descending order,
determine which installations will be funded from the budgeted amount.
Representatives of the applicants for all aoDroved road humD installat~onn
will be notified of which requests have been funded for the coming fiscal
year.
(4) Installations .not included in the group to be funded can be approved if'
their full installatio~ cost (including the City's share) is voluntarily
paid, as provided in Section SA.
(5) If C~ty funds remain after the determination of which installations will
be funded from the budgeted amount, or if allocated City funds become
available by non-payment of invoiced amounts under provisions of Section 8,
these funds can be applied towards the highest ranked non-funded
installation on the ranking lis=. Should these funds be insufficient to
cover the City's portion of that installation, and the applicant(a) do not
want to voluntarily pay the difference, these funds can then be made
available towards the second highest ranked non-funded installation on the
ranked list; then the third highest; and so forth.
(6) The City will submit a statement to the representative of the residents
for any cost based on the provisions of the Road Hump Policy. It will list
the total cost, portion to be paid by residents and the portion to be paid
by the City. Upon funding approval and receipt of payment of the residents'
share, the humps will be installed aa scheduling permits. If payment of the
residents' share, if any is required, has not been received within one year
from the statement date, the street will be removed from the~
approved for road hump installatio~ and all monies received, if any,
returned to the payor.
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