SPEEDS in SCHOOL ZONES September 2008 Published: February 2009 6
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Technical Report Documentation Page 1. Report No. 2. Government Accession No. 3. Recipient’s Catalog No. FHWA/TX-09/0-5470-1 4. Title and Subtitle 5. Report Date SPEEDS IN SCHOOL ZONES September 2008 Published: February 2009 6. Performing Organization Code 7. Author(s) 8. Performing Organization Report No. Kay Fitzpatrick, Marcus Brewer, Kwaku Obeng-Boampong, Eun Sug Report 0-5470-1 Park, Nada Trout 9. Performing Organization Name and Address 10. Work Unit No. (TRAIS) Texas Transportation Institute The Texas A&M University System 11. Contract or Grant No. College Station, Texas 77843-3135 Project 0-5470 12. Sponsoring Agency Name and Address 13. Type of Report and Period Covered Texas Department of Transportation Technical Report: Research and Technology Implementation Office September 2006-August 2008 P. O. Box 5080 14. Sponsoring Agency Code Austin, Texas 78763-5080 15. Supplementary Notes Project performed in cooperation with the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration. Project Title: Comprehensive Guide to Traffic Control Near Schools URL: http://tti.tamu.edu/documents/0-5470-1.pdf 16. Abstract School speed zones are frequently requested traffic controls for school areas, based on the common belief that if the transportation agency would only install a reduced speed limit, then drivers would no longer speed through the area. This research project was tasked with reviewing existing practices and developing guidelines regarding the establishment of school zones. Researchers documented existing knowledge on traffic control devices in school zones using a review of previous research that examined effectiveness of devices, a survey of practitioners on signing and marking, a review of state and city school zone guidelines and warrants, and a telephone survey of law enforcement officers. Researchers also collected field data at 24 school zones across Texas and analyzed the data for findings on speed-distance relationships, speed-time relationships, influences of various site characteristics on speeds, and special characteristics of school zones with buffer zones. The findings from these analyses were used in developing suggested guidelines for traffic control devices, including school speed zones, near schools in Texas. The Guidelines are designed to serve as a supplement to the Texas Manual on Uniform Traffic Control Devices and the manual on Procedures for Establishing Speed Zones. They are included in this report as Appendix A. Major topics in the Guidelines include: definitions, school location, school speed zone characteristics, pavement markings, crosswalks, school entrances, and conditions for removing a school speed zone. 17. Key Words 18. Distribution Statement School Zones, Speeds, School Traffic Control No restrictions. This document is available to the Devices public through NTIS: National Technical Information Service Springfield, Virginia 22161 http://www.ntis.gov 19. Security Classif.(of this report) 20. Security Classif.(of this page) 21. No. of Pages 22. Price Unclassified Unclassified 196 Form DOT F 1700.7 (8-72) Reproduction of completed page authorized SPEEDS IN SCHOOL ZONES by Kay Fitzpatrick, Ph.D., P.E. Senior Research Engineer Texas Transportation Institute Marcus Brewer, P.E. Assistant Research Engineer Texas Transportation Institute Kwaku Obeng-Boampong, P.E. Assistant Research Engineer Texas Transportation Institute Eun Sug Park, Ph.D. Associate Research Scientist Texas Transportation Institute and Nada Trout Assistant Research Scientist Texas Transportation Institute Report 0-5470-1 Project 0-5470 Project Title: Comprehensive Guide to Traffic Control Near Schools Performed in cooperation with the Texas Department of Transportation and the Federal Highway Administration September 2008 Published: February 2009 TEXAS TRANSPORTATION INSTITUTE The Texas A&M University System College Station, Texas 77843-3135 DISCLAIMER The contents of this report reflect the views of the authors, who are responsible for the facts and the accuracy of the data presented herein. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official view or policies of the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT). This report does not constitute a standard, specification, or regulation. The engineer in charge was Kay Fitzpatrick, P.E. (TX-86762). v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project was conducted in cooperation with TxDOT and FHWA. The authors thank the members of TxDOT’s Project Monitoring Committee: Omar Madrid, P.E. – TxDOT El Paso District, Project Director Tom Beeman, P.E. – TxDOT Design Division, Program Coordinator Carlos Chavez, P.E. – TxDOT El Paso District, Program Coordinator (retired) Linden Burgess – TxDOT Dallas District, Project Advisor Scott Cunningham, P.E. – TxDOT Austin District, Project Advisor Ismael Soto, P.E. – TxDOT Corpus Christi District, Project Advisor Flor Tamez, P.E. – TxDOT Traffic Operations Division, Project Advisor Wade Odell, P.E. – TxDOT Research and Technology Implementation Office, Research Engineer Loretta Brown – TxDOT Research and Technology Implementation Office, Contract Specialist In addition, the authors would like to thank the numerous school administrators, principals, and other officials who agreed to allow the research team to collect data at schools and answer other questions about their schools’ characteristics and their observations on traffic patterns near their schools: Paula Barbaroux – Operations Manager Chad Bartee – City Engineer Kimberly Baxter – Principal Todd Bloomer – Assistant Principal Dolores Chaparro – Principal Hugh Ellison – Principal Diane Innis – Superintendent David Jones – Principal David Kinney – Principal Walter Key – Principal James Lamonica – Principal Carmen Moran – Principal Denise Morgan – Principal Megan Overman – Public Information Director Boyd Rice – Principal Loretta Ross – Principal Grady Slaydon – Director of Maintenance and Operations Sylvia Swayne – Principal Charlie Thomas – Superintendent Luis Villalobos – Executive Director of Public Relations Yvonne Walker – Principal vi Finally, the authors would like to thank the following Texas Transportation Institute (TTI) employees who provided general guidance during the study, assisted with data collection, or performed data reduction for the field studies on this project: General Guidance Joan Hudson – Assistant Research Engineer Tony Voigt – Research Engineer Scott Cooner – Research Engineer Data Collection Jeremy Johnson – Engineering Research Associate Dan Walker – Assistant Research Specialist Diana Wallace – Programmer/Analyst Robert McLain – Research Associate Gary Barricklow – Research Technician Liang Ding – Assistant Transportation Researcher Arturo Bujanda – Assistant Research Specialist Noel Chavez – Student Worker III Rodrigo Torres – Student Worker III Albertico Montes – Student Worker IV Data Reduction Katherine Green – Student Worker III Curtis White – Student Worker IV Sara Roby – Student Worker II Josh Robertson – Student Worker III Kristen Wallin – Student Worker IV Derek Ladd – Student Worker I Bria Whitmire – Student Worker III vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................... xiii LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................................... xvii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................................... 1 RESEARCH APPROACH ......................................................................................................... 1 REPORT ORGANIZATION ...................................................................................................... 2 CHAPTER 2 LITERATURE REVIEW ON VEHICLE SPEEDS IN SCHOOL ZONES ... 3 SIGNS AND MARKINGS ......................................................................................................... 3 SPEED MONITORING DISPLAY ............................................................................................ 8 CHAPTER 3 SURVEY OF PRACTICE FOR SIGNING AND MARKINGS NEAR SCHOOLS ................................................................................................................................... 11 TxDOT: STATE-OF-THE-PRACTICE FOR SCHOOL SPEED ZONES .............................. 11 TxDOT: OTHER SIGNING AND MARKINGS FOR SCHOOLS ......................................... 12 TxDOT: ENGINEERING JUDGMENT .................................................................................. 12 TxDOT: POTENTIAL STUDY SITES .................................................................................... 12 TxDOT: COMMENTS ............................................................................................................. 13 TxDOT: QUESTION-BY-QUESTION RESPONSES ............................................................ 13 School Speed Zones .............................................................................................................. 13 Other Signs/Markings ........................................................................................................... 17 Engineering Judgment .......................................................................................................... 18 CITY/COUNTY: SUMMARY OF WEB-BASED SURVEY ................................................