THERE WILL BE A NEIGHBORHOOD WIDE MEETING ON MARCH 4 FROM 6:30-8:30PM IN THE SEQUOYAH ELEMENTARY GYMNASIUM.
Please spread the word about this meeting to your neighbors. Rules of decorum, civility, and professionalism will be enforced at this meeting.
The Board of the KP-SHA wants to thank all neighbors who participated in the City’s traffic calming meeting on February 28, 2023, as well as the second additional meeting held by the City on April 19th, 2023. Following the neighborhood’s input on the traffic calming concept presented by the City of Knoxville, a neutral traffic calming committee was created. This committee is not affiliated with the KP-SHA board and is composed of 6 neighbors: 3 in support of traffic calming measures and 3 opposed to the concept presented by the City.
The committee was kept to 6 people in order to keep it efficient. The members are a good mix of people who live on affected streets, have some expertise in a relevant field, have a history of involvement in the neighborhood, and have consistently shown interest in this issue since its announcement. The goal of this committee is to work together to find a compromise that effectively slows traffic with as little negative impact to driving as possible.
A lot of research, donated time, and discussion has gone into the sharing of ideas and relevant information. In an effort to remain transparent, the committee has created a Facebook account named “Traffic Calming,” and plan on posting regular updates on the Kingston Pike-Sequoyah Hills Neighborhood Association Facebook page. The team is working diligently and efficiently toward the goal of finding solutions that will increase safety while preserving the aesthetics of our neighborhood, and plans to share its findings as they are refined.
THE RECENT UPDATE:
Hey Neighbors
Our committee met with the City yesterday, and they went over a revised plan with us that has been approved by all City departments and is ready for presentation and discussion by the neighborhood. We have several modifications we are going to discuss with the City via email and they will be getting a few more pieces of information to us.
THERE WILL BE A NEIGHBORHOOD WIDE MEETING ON MARCH 4 FROM 7-8:30PM IN THE SEQUOYAH ELEMENTARY GYMNASIUM. Barron Hall is unavailabe at a time that works for our committee until April, and Mrs. Siler has allowed us to schedule this meeting at the Sequoyah Elementary School Gym.
Please spread the word about this meeting to your neighbors. Rules of decorum, civility, and professionalism will be enforced at this meeting.
We can be reached at SH.Traffic.Calming@gmail.com
We are looking forward to speaking to many of you all in a few weeks.
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In September 2023, this committee presented a plan to a group of City representatives for their study and their thoughts on the viability of the concepts. The committee chose to present the concepts to the City before presenting them to the neighborhood because they didn’t want to present a plan to the neighborhood that the City wasn’t even going to approve. The ideas presented to the City are used commonly to calm traffic, but the City engineers have certain standards that are applied to every unique circumstance (street or intersection), so they asked for at least a month to evaluate.
The next step will be for the committee to present these plans to the neighborhood as soon as possible once the City has given their feedback. Please watch for information about the meeting on this site as well as the Facebook page. The goal is to give neighbors plenty of notice and time. There will be more than one meeting where the same information is presented.
In the meantime, please use this email address to send your thoughts: SH.Traffic.Calming@gmail.com. If you send an email, you must include your name and address. Any questions will most likely be handled at the presentations to the neighborhood, so don’t expect a response. Please remember that the committee is comprised of 6 neighbors who have decided to try to come to a compromise between 2 well-intentioned sides of the issue. As with most good compromises, both sides should expect to not get everything they want and leave a little unhappy.
Further history:
By way of background, the City’s Neighborhood Traffic Safety Program (NTSP) accepts applications from residents on any City street who believe they are affected by excessive speeding. The City then conducts a speed study to collect data on the volume and speed of traffic and determine if traffic calming measures are warranted. If so, the City develops a plan and presents an initial version in a public forum to receive feedback. That initial presentation took place on February 28, 2023. Hundreds of neighbors turned out to express their opinions about the need for traffic calming generally and the City’s proposed plan specifically.
Following the public meeting on February 28, 2023, the City’s Office of Neighborhood Empowerment stated its intent to conduct a series of additional meetings before any decisions are made or any plans are finalized. However, to be clear, the City’s priority is to work with residents who live on streets that applied to participate in the NTSP and where excessive speeding has been verified. Because those streets have satisfied the criteria to qualify for the NTSP, measures will be considered to reduce speeding on those streets. What form that traffic calming takes, how it looks, and the degree of intervention needed are all matters on which the City seeks input from the broader community and neighbors on the affected streets.
Speed humps are the City’s preferred measure to reduce speed because they are the most cost efficient. However, other effective traffic calming measures may be considered if neighbors are willing to fund any costs that exceed the cost of speed humps. Regardless, no neighbor will be forced to have a speed hump located in front of their property who does not want one located there. Ultimately, the City wants a collaborative process to design a traffic calming plan that is effective at reducing speeds and also responsive to the needs of residents and supported by the neighborhood.
The KP-SHA will continue its efforts to encourage neighborly communication and coorperative action between the City and neighborhood residents during this ongoing process.