Neighborhood Traffic Management Program (NTMP)

Download your request forms here - Traffic Calming Request Form & Traffic Management Request

The Public Safety Committee and Chief Jones recommended to Town Council the need to establish a Neighborhood Traffic Management Program. The Town Council on November 5th 2007 passed Resolution NO.07-06 implementing this program. The purpose of the NTMP has already given our citizens greater participation in decisions regarding traffic management.  

The committee and I truly believe this will promote the safety and livability of residential neighborhoods through the use of education, traffic calming devices and enforcement recommendations where appropriate. The Public Safety Committee is comprised of five citizens and the members are Melanie Gregg, Jim LeClaire, Kristi Harrison, Laura Wilkinson, and Kevin King.

This program allows us to employ traffic management calming devices to achieve the NTMP objectives.  These calming devices will or could include (but are not limited to) temporary speed humps, rumble strips, zero tolerance traffic details, orange flags, signs that state “Bicycle Laws Strictly Enforced” & “Radar Strictly Enforced”, (as well as other temporary or permanent signage and devices deemed appropriate to control traffic situations.

Some of you might ask, “What is Traffic Calming?” The term "Traffic Calming" is used to describe methods of altering the behavior of traffic to suit the character of the area it moves through. The most apt example of this character occurs where a local street is used by motorists as a short cut from one arterial to another. Because cut-through traffic often moves faster than neighborhood traffic (and there is a lot more of it), this use can severely degrade the character of our streets. Increased volume and increased speed can lead to a more dangerous, less pleasant street and discourages its use by bicyclists, pedestrians and children. As concern over safety and the desire for improved pedestrian and bicycle safety increases, our neighborhoods need to have some form of a traffic calming measure to improve safety and reduce vehicle speed. Traffic Calming is a form of traffic planning that seeks to equalize the use of streets between automobiles, pedestrians, bicyclists, and playing children. This can be accomplished through the use of a device like speed humps and/or other techniques that reduce traffic volume and speed in neighborhoods while maintaining maximum mobility and access. Traffic calming also attempts to make drivers more aware of sharing the space of a street with other users.

Here in the Town of Double Oak, the need for traffic calming was brought about by the increased requests by our citizens to "do something" about the quantity of traffic using their neighborhoods as cut-through thoroughfares. The overriding purpose of a traffic calming device is to discourage non-local traffic from cutting through neighborhoods. There are several other benefits to the process as well. Because many traffic calming strategies reduce vehicle speeds for all the traffic on the street, safety on that street is increased. Since I have been the Chief of Police, I have received an increase in complaints about traffic on our neighborhood streets.  The Public Safety Committee and I know that this increase in traffic through our neighborhoods is being caused by the new development in Highland Village and Flower Mound. We also know the cut-through traffic is trying to avoid congestion on FM 407 and FM 1171. I hope everyone understands that the Public Safety Committee, Town Council and I are doing everything within our power to make Double Oak Safer.