SAN ANTONIO – A council consideration request (CCR) to adopt a more holistic approach to traffic calming measures in San Antonio is inching closer to a full council vote.
District 5 Councilwoman Teri Castillo filed the CCR on Jan. 27. Last Wednesday, the request was approved during a city Governance Committee meeting.
Recommended Videos
A District 5 official sent KSAT the following statement, on behalf of Castillo, regarding the CCR’s movement.
The Holistic Traffic Calming policy request is pushing the City of San Antonio to look beyond the status quo for solutions to stop speeding. Speedbumps and signs are one part of the solution, but there is so much more we should be doing as a city to reduce speeding. By implementing the Holistic Traffic Calming policy, the City will have an opportunity to create slow-zones near sensitive areas like schools and neighborhoods as well as increase residents’ access to more innovative traffic calming devices and designs. Just as importantly, this policy will also improve the public’s traffic calming petition process by making it easier to track requests and including multiple experts from the Transportation and Planning Departments. I look forward to the input from the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee next.
Councilwoman Teri Castillo
The CCR will next go before an upcoming Transportation and Infrastructure Committee meeting.
Councilmembers can file CCRs with the intent of the policy proposal landing on a future city council meeting.
What does the CCR describe?
Castillo, by filing paperwork for the CCR, said she “regularly” heard from District 5 residents “over the need for more traffic calming measures to reduce speeding and protect lives.”
“Dangerous streets affect so many parts of our public life,” Castillo said in filing paperwork. “Speeding commuters shouldn’t deter us from walking to school or our parks.”
The CCR would require the traffic requests to be up for review by the city’s Public Works, Transportation and Planning departments.
Other requests from the CCR Governance Committee presentation include:
- Making GIS (Geographic Information System) mapping information available to the public
- Promoting Complete Streets measures
- Creating a multi-agency team to assess roadway conditions when fatalities or injuries occur
- Reevaluating the reasonable and safe maximum speed limit on public streets
- Exploring feasibility around “in-house contracting” units through Ready to Work participants to expedite quick-builds.
- Exploring the feasibility of “Slow-Zone Districts” in sensitive areas.
The presentation also discusses how each department listed in the CCR currently tackles traffic calming measures.
Transportation
- Last year, San Antonio simultaneously adopted updates to its respective Vision Zero and Complete Streets programs.
- Safe Streets and Roads for All grant awards to address quick-build installations
- Developing a Complete Street Design Guide; expected to be completed in late 2026
Public Works
- $1 million for a Traffic Calming Program
- $1 million for 60 radar feedback signs and 70 flashing stop signs
- $650,000 in Neighborhood Access and Mobility Program projects across the city’s 10 city council districts
- Adjustment to Fall 2023 Traffic Calming Criteria
- Updating a Traffic Calming Handbook
Planning
- Work around the SA Tomorrow Comprehensive Plan, which was adopted in 2016
- Sub-area plan development is ongoing
Transportation woes; funding uncertainty
Castillo’s policy move comes as the Trump administration issues its call for a reversal on previously held guidance around “road diets,” a term synonymous with Vision Zero and Complete Streets programs across the United States.
Last year, San Antonio simultaneously adopted updates to its respective Vision Zero and Complete Streets programs.
Road diets typically involve reconfiguring roadways to include infrastructure supporting pedestrians, alternative transportation users and easing traffic.
The practice has been used by several cities to ease and calm traffic.
Even so, new criteria for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s forthcoming Safe Streets and Roads for All grant program state that it will view applicants “less favorably” if they include language that reduces lane capacity.
San Antonio received grant funding last year to address traffic calming utilizing “quick-build” infrastructure for its respective Vision Zero and Bike Network plans.
The funding is expected to help the city build out a quick-build implementation program.
As for how the criteria might affect quick-builds connected to this project, a City of San Antonio spokesperson sent KSAT the following statement on Tuesday afternoon.
“We’ve seen the new criteria from the U.S. Department of Transportation, but it’s too soon to say how, or if, that might affect the grant we received last year. Right now, we’re staying focused on meeting the requirements tied to that funding and continuing the work we committed to.”
See below to view the CCR in full.
Governance Committee packet from April 16 meeting by Mason on Scribd
Read more:
