The City of San Antonio is taking steps to ease requirements for streets to receive traffic-calming measures like stop signs, traffic signals and speed humps.
Among the biggest changes: The Public Works Department is getting rid of the traffic volume criteria for residential streets to receive four-way stop signs. (Streets that are among the city’s top 100 most highly-traveled corridors are excluded from the change.).
The city’s old policy required a traffic volume of 300 cars per hour on the main street and 200 cars per hour on cross streets for four-way stops on residential streets, as recommended by the Texas Department of Transportation’s Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices (TMUTCD). Exceptions are allowed if there is crash history or sight distance issues, according to a presentation from Public Works.
Eliminating the volume requirement means adding the new stops would no longer require a traffic study, a process that typically takes about three months but can sometimes go on much longer.
The city is also implementing a 30% reduction from TxDOT’s recommended traffic volume required for traffic lights, according to the presentation, among other criteria changes.
“Our job is making sure that traffic is flowing, but safely,” Public Works Director Razi Hosseini told members of the City Council’s Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Wednesday.
Council members are eager for the changes. Constituents make frequent requests for traffic-calming measures in their neighborhoods, they say, and they’re needed to create safer walking, biking and driving conditions.
“What I would like to see going forward … is us moving more aggressively towards being more walkable city,” said Councilwoman Melissa Cabello Havrda (D6). “… I think this is aggressive — changing this criteria and allowing us more opportunity to make these changes in our neighborhoods.”
A separate presentation to the committee Wednesday, from the city’s Transportation Department, showed San Antonio’s traffic fatalities have climbed steadily over the past five years, topping 200 deaths in a single year for the first time in 2022.
The city’s 2024 budget allocated $2 million for new traffic-calming measures, including roughly 100 new signs that alert drivers of their speed, 100 new flashing stop signs, as well as speed humps, curb extensions and roundabouts.
Following Wednesday’s meeting, Public Works has adopted the changes and will update its handbook to reflect them, department spokesman Nicholas Olivier said in a statement. No council vote is required.
Hosseini said in an interview after the meeting that municipalities have the authority to set their own criteria as needed.
All signs will still be installed “in a manner consistent with the required parameters in the TMUTCD for the placement, size, color, and shape of the sign,” as is required by state law, Olivier said in a statement.
Wednesday’s presentation said the city will prioritize projects based on the street’s traffic volume, speed, crash history and proximity to pedestrian destinations, schools, parks and bus stops. Though the traffic studies are no longer required, Olivier said the city may still conduct one to better understand conditions in the area.
For a street to receive a speed hump, Public Works is doing away with traffic volume requirements, as well as the minimum uninterrupted street segment length. It’s also considering reducing the amount of support required from adjacent property owners and residents from 67% to 51%.
For flashing stop signs, the city previously limited eligibility to four-way stops. Public Works changed the criteria to allow flashing stop signs at some intersections without four-way stops if the average daily traffic averages at least 2.5 vehicles per minute and the location has had three or more crashes in the past three years.
Councilman John Courage (D9) said he was pleased with the changes, which would give the council the ability to make the changes residents are asking for. He suggested the city also look at installing more visible signage alerting drivers that pedestrians have the right-of-way at crosswalks.
“Nothing that would obstruct the car if it hit it … but just to remind people to respect those crosswalks,” Courage said. “That’s something I would like to see a little more emphasis on.”
Hosseini said Public Works is cautious about installing those because of the increased maintenance requirements. The Transportation Department has its own plan to improve pedestrian safety, separate from Public Works, which focuses on more comprehensive solutions.
Residents can submit their own requests for traffic signs here. Stop lights can be requested here, as well as maps of the planned street light projects in each council district.
