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COLUMBIA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPEED HUMP PROGRAM PROCEDURE MANUAL Columbia County Engineering Services Division (706) 868-3356 Adopted September 7, 2021 ---PAGE BREAK--- COLUMBIA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPEED HUMP PROGRAM PROCEDURE MANUAL 2 INTRODUCTION In response to concerns of excessive vehicle speeds in residential neighborhoods Columbia County evaluated plans and programs that appear to have favorable results regarding a reduction of documented excessive speeding and cut-through traffic on local residential streets. The most popular and cost effective speed reduction tool that resulted from this evaluation was speed humps. Speed humps provide the opportunity to reduce speeds along an entire local residential street, as opposed to only reducing speeds at spot locations. Speed humps should not be confused with speed “bumps” which are tools typically used in parking lots or areas where pedestrian traffic is prevalent and traffic speeds should not exceed five to ten miles per hour. Speed humps, however, are intended to be negotiated at a comfortable rate of speed, typically at the posted speed limit or at the posted advisory speeds. Their purpose is not to drastically reduce vehicle speeds or impede traffic flow. A sample speed hump layout is provided below. ---PAGE BREAK--- COLUMBIA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPEED HUMP PROGRAM 3 LEGAL AUTHORITY Speed humps shall only be installed and removed on County maintained residential streets by the authority of the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. This procedure shall apply to all requests for speed humps as of January 1, 2020. This procedure shall not apply to private roads. INITIAL REQUEST AND SCREENING CRITERIA Any individual can initiate a request for speed hump installation. The application can be obtained by calling Columbia County at (706) 868-4223. Prior to issuing an application to the requestor, an initial screening of the requesting street will be performed to confirm the characteristics of the street support consideration for speed humps. If the requesting street does not satisfy all of the following initial screening criteria, the requestor will be notified and an application for speed humps will not be issued. The street must be a County maintained, two-lane paved local residential street that provides access to developed residential lots. All properties, developed or undeveloped, with primary driveways located on the requesting street must be of residential use. The street must be classified as a local residential street with a posted speed limit of 25 mph. Streets will not be segmented. The entire length of the street where the street name remains unchanged will be considered. The pavement width shall not exceed 40 feet. The street length shall be at least 700 feet or greater. Speed humps shall not be installed on any portion of a street with a grade of 8 percent or more. Sufficient separation must be available between driveways to allow for proper placement of speed humps. Speed humps will not be placed directly in front of driveways or parking areas. Geometric characteristics of the street must allow for placement of speed humps in general conformance with the Institute of Transportation Engineers. If the street passes the initial screening, the requestor will be issued the Speed Hump Request Application. The application will need to be completed by the requestor and must include their name, address, contact information, and signature. PETITION AND SPEED HUMP LAYOUT MAP CRITERIA Upon receiving the completed Speed Hump Request Application back from the requestor, Columbia County will prepare a Speed Hump Petition and Layout Map for the requesting street. The Speed Hump Petition will include the name of the requestor as well as the name, address, and a signature line for all of the listed property owners on the street. A speed hump Layout Map for the street will also be created and included in the petition based on current guidelines set forth by the Institute of Transportation Engineers Guidelines for the Design and Application of Speed Humps manual. A copy of the map will be attached to the petition for the property owners to evaluate prior to signing the petition. ---PAGE BREAK--- COLUMBIA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPEED HUMP PROGRAM 4 The petition packet will include a signature verification page for each property owner. The signature verification page must be completed for each property owner who signs the petition. Failure to submit a completed signature verification page for a signature will make that particular signature null and void. Participation by 51% of the registered property owners on the street must be met for the petition to receive further consideration. The completed petition and signature verification forms must be returned to Columbia County within 90 days of petition issuance to be valid. If a petition is not returned within the 90 day time frame the entire process will need to be restarted by submitting a new Speed Hump Request Application. DATA COLLECTION AND BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS CONSIDERATION Once the initial screening criteria, request application, and petition requirements are all met, a speed and volume data study will be conducted over a 24-hour period by a counter placed at a location in the roadway. For the petition to receive further consideration, the 85th percentile speed must be at least 10 miles per hour (MPH) over the posted speed limit and the Average Daily Traffic (ADT) must exceed 250 vehicles per day (VPD) on streets with 23 or more residences. For streets with less than 23 residences, the minimum vehicles per day (VPD) will be calculated using the current Institute of Transportation Engineers trip generation average per household plus 18%. Both speed and volume criteria must be met for the request to receive further consideration in the speed hump program. Note: The 85th percentile speed is defined as the speed at or below which 85 percent of all vehicles are observed to travel under free-flowing conditions past a monitored point. If the minimum speed and volume requirements are not met, the requestor and all of the petitioners for speed humps will be notified and the street will not be reconsidered for speed humps for a period of one year. If the minimum speed and volume requirements are met, Columbia County will mail notices, including the Layout Map, to all affected property owners on the street. The notice will also inform the property owners of the date and time of the oversight committee meeting at which the speed hump request will be considered. If the request receives favorable recommendation from the Committee, it will be scheduled for action by the Columbia County Board of Commissioners. If the request is approved by the Board of Commissioners, speed humps will be scheduled for installation. If the request is denied, the street will not be reconsidered for speed humps for a period of one year. INSTALLATION Approved speed humps will be installed by Columbia County in the order in which they are approved by the Board of Commissioners until such time that the speed hump budget is depleted. Any roads that are approved but were not funded will be carried forward to the following budget year, in the same order in which they were approved. ---PAGE BREAK--- COLUMBIA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPEED HUMP PROGRAM 5 Installation of speed humps may be delayed if the street is scheduled to be resurfaced. The speed humps will be installed when resurfacing has been completed. Approved speed humps may be installed after the appropriated funds have been exhausted if the entire cost of the installation and materials is paid for by the residents of the street. REMOVAL OF SPEED HUMPS Speed humps that have been installed for a minimum of five years may be removed at the expense of the homeowners if approved by the oversight committee and the Board of Commissioners. A petition for removal of speed humps can be requested from Columbia County and will include a cost quote for removal as estimated by Columbia County. A completed petition will be presented to the oversight committee if the following criteria are met: Petition is returned to Columbia County within 90 days of petition issuance 100% of the property owners on the street have signed the petition for removal and have completed signature verification forms Once a valid petition meeting the above criteria has been received, Columbia County will mail notices to all affected property owners on the street. The notice will inform the property owners of the date and time of the oversight committee meeting at which the request to remove the speed humps will be considered. If the request receives favorable recommendation from the oversight committee, it will be scheduled for action by the Board of Commissioners. Upon approval by the Board of Commissioners and receipt of the removal fee, Columbia County will remove the speed humps as schedule permits. If the request is denied by the oversight committee or the Board of Commissioners, a new petition for removal cannot be issued for a minimum of one year. Any street that has speed humps removed will not be eligible to apply again for speed humps for a minimum of five years from the date of removal. If a local residential street with existing speed humps is reclassified to a Collector street, the speed humps will be removed by the County. ---PAGE BREAK--- COLUMBIA COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS SPEED HUMP PROGRAM 6 STANDARDIZATION OF APPLICATION Columbia County follows the typical pavement markings and warning signs for speed humps that are contained in the Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (MUTCD) to indicate the presence of speed humps and to identify their location. A typical detail of speed hump pavement markings and warning signage is shown below. TYPICAL PAVEMENT MARKINGS AND WARNING SIGNS FOR SPEED HUMPS