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Traffic Calming

About Those Pesky

SPEED BUMPS

How did they get here?

By Philip Bartholomew, former RVCA President

n the late 1980s/early-to-mid 1990s, explosive growth The data collected confirmed:
was on the horizon for downtown Fort Lauderdale, the • the neighborhood entry points for the largest volume of
IBeach and SE 17th Street. west and northbound cut-through traffic (vehicles
traveling from SE 17th Street to US1/Davie Blvd./
To plan for the increased traffic volume triggered by the
projected growth, the City hired a traffic consultant to the Tunnel) were:
o Cordova Road
review the then-current US1/ SE 17th Street traffic
environment, project post-growth volumes and suggest o SE 10th Avenue (the cemetery road)
• and the neighborhood entry points for the largest
alternative plans to mitigate future traffic issues.
volume of east and southbound cut-through traffic
During that same period (and for years prior), traffic (vehicles traveling from US1/Davie Blvd./the Tunnel
volume and speeding complaints from Rio Vista residents to SE 17th Street) were:
were continually being received by the RVCA and the City. o SE 7th and 9th Streets and, to a lesser extent, Ponce.
As the Rio Vista and Lauderdale Harbors neighborhoods • 15th percentile speeds on the most heavily traveled
lay directly between the SE 17th St. and US 1 corridors, neighborhood streets were between 36 and 39 m.p.h.
our neighborhoods were included in the traffic study. (25 m.p.h. was/is the posted limit in the
Traffic volume and 15th percentile speeds (the speed at neighborhood and 35 m.p.h. is the posted limit on
which the fastest 15 percent of vehicles travel) were Federal Highway).
collected. Particular attention was paid to the streets which Because of the growth looming around us, the data
were known to have the combination of: confirming what many residents had been saying for
a. the highest volume and speeds, years, the opportunity to have a professional traffic
b. the highest likelihood of “cut-through” i.e. non- consultant suggest traffic calming alternatives and City
neighborhood traffic, and, support/funding to implement traffic calming devices, the
c. the most complaints from residents. RVCA Board of Directors (of which I was the President at

10 rio vista civic association • www.riovistaonline.com