Whispering Oaks – Shiloh
The traffic calming plan for the Southwood neighborhood this is the area south of Ben White, east of Manchaca, north of Williamson Creek, and west of the Union Pacific railroad track. A portion of Redd Street is included in this neighborhood. Although you do not live in this neighborhood, you were included on the mailing list as Travis Central Appraisal District records indicated you own property in that area.
We had a 29.2% response rate with 43.6% in favor of the plan and 56.4% opposed to the plan. Since less than 60% of the returned ballots supported the plan, traffic calming device installation is not planned for the neighborhood.
I did some checking and found that traffic calming was done for the area that includes Redleaf Lane in 2001. That traffic calming plan did receive the required degree of support and traffic calming devices were installed on some streets in the neighborhood.
In addition to the Southwood vote last year, we mailed proposed traffic calming plans for three other neighborhoods. Two of the others also did not receive the required 60% support. Therefore, Transportation Department staff members are reviewing the program guidelines and procedures to see if there are some changes that should be made. We understand that the volunteers from the neighborhoods work hard to develop the proposed traffic calming plans and we would like see plans developed that are well received by the area residents and owners. However, we ultimately let the area residents and owners determine, through their vote, whether or not traffic calming devices are installed in their neighborhoods.
I received a letter and ballot about installing road cushions in the Banister Heights area. This is the only correspondence that I have received regarding this issue, any other letters sent regarding the city’s intentions or planning programs or listed meetings were never received.
Also, Whispering Oaks is the neighborhood that I was telling you about that had the speed humps put in during the 1990’s fly-by-night, in which I reside.
Banister Acres – Southwood defeated the plan with a minority of people in April of 2009.
Residents can petition for speed humps removal from the City of Austin with a large majority, but the residents must pay the City of Austin their ridiculous price to employ their workers to remove the humps.
Ronnie Bell, P.E.
Supervising Engineer, South Austin
Traffic Engineering Division
Transportation Department
City of Austin
(512) 974-7015
ronnie.bell@ci.austin.tx.us
Neighborhood Traffic Calming Program
Questions and Answers about Speed Humps
City of Austin – Speed humps