San Francisco is closing its residential congestion calm program citing cost concerns, reports Matthew Green of KQED.
“Since the launch of the traffic congestion program in 2013, residents have been able to request new speed reduction devices in their neighborhoods, such as concrete islands, speed bumps (and bumps), road markings and rubber road cushions.” Currently, the San Francisco City Transportation Agency (SFTMA) says it is forcing the agency to suspend the program as high costs and demand face a $322 million deficit next year.
Since 2018, the city has installed over 500 traffic congestion devices, with a total of over 1,200 devices thanks to resident requests. However, 2024 remains the city’s most deadly year in at least 20 years due to traffic deaths, and traffic citations fell by almost 90% between 2014 and 2024 due to police personnel shortages and new regulations.
Walk San Francisco’s Malta Linsay said he hopes the city will return with a more comprehensive approach to Vision Zero. “We hope that SFMTA will catch up with this backlog, but instead of this ‘speed hump by speed hump’ approach, we’re back with a better program that can be aggressive and bring speed hump to the whole neighborhood. ”
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